Small molecules such as H2, N2, CO, NH3, O2 are ubiquitous stable species and their activation and role in the formation of value-added products are of fundamental importance in nature and industry.

Commercially available NaOH powder is shown to be an efficient transition-metal-free initiator for the catalytic hydroboration of aldehydes, ketones, alkynes and alkenes with HBpin and 9-BBN under mild conditions.

N-heterocyclic ylide-like germylene effectively promotes the hydroboration of aldehydes and ketones under mild conditions with broad substrate tolerance, operational simplicity of procedure and excellent yields. A key intermediate in this catalytic system featuring a bicyclo[2,2,2]octane-like core has been successfully isolated and characterized, suggesting a new type of mechanism that involves the activation mode that mimics that of transition metal catalysts.

The first facile and efficient copper-catalyzed direct C-P cross-coupling of unprotected propargylic alcohols with P(O)H compounds has been developed, providing a general, one-step approach to construct valuable allenylphosphoryl frameworks with operational simplicity and high step- and atom-economy under ligand-, base-, and additive-free conditions.

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