(Phys.org)—Researchers from McGill University in Montreal have devised a novel carbon-carbon bond-forming reaction that serves as an alternative to a nucleophilic addition reaction of an organometallic compound to a carbonyl (e.g., Grignard reaction). Common aldehydes, when reacted with hydrazine to form hydrazones, are then activated with a ruthenium-based catalyst and serve as the nucleophilic carbanions that attack an electrophilic carbonyl, forming secondary or tertiary alcohols. This alternative reaction demonstrated both selectivity and versatility in a variety of carbonyl compounds, including those that would serve as naturally-occurring feedstocks. Their work appears in Nature Chemistry.