Iron  (low valent)

Recent Literature 

Fe(0) is cost-effective, environmentally friendly alternative to Cr(II) for the olefination of carbonyls by activated polyhalides. Fe(0) proved compatible with a wide range of functionality, such as unprotected phenol, aryl nitro, carboxylic acid, and alkyl nitrile.
J. R. Falck, R. Bejot, D. K. Barma, A. Bandyopadhyay, S. Joseph, C. Mioskowski, J. Org. Chem., 2006, 71, 8178-8182.

An operationally simple and very efficient Reformatsky reaction of aldehydes has been carried out in THF in the presence of low valent iron or copper which were prepared in situ employing a bimetal redox strategy through reduction of Fe(III) or Cu(II) salts with magnesium.
A. Chattopadhyay, A. Kr. Dubey, J. Org. Chem., 2007, 72, 9357-9359.

An iron complex containing electronically coupled acidic and hydridic hydrogens catalyzes the hydrogenation of ketones under mild conditions and shows high chemoselectivity for aldehydes, ketones, and imines. Isolated carbon double and triple bonds, aryl halides, nitrates, epoxides, and ester functions are unaffected by the hydrogenation conditions.
C. P. Casey, H. Guan, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2007, 129, 5816-5817.

An intermolecular reductive Schiff base formation from nitroarenes and benzaldehydes to yield diarylimines is carried out in the presence of iron powder and dilute acid. This process tolerates various functional groups and often proceeds quantitatively with no need for purification.
A. L. Korich, T. S. Hughes, Synlett, 2007, 2602-2604.