Iridium complexes with aliphatic, non-innocent pincer ligands

Pincer complexes attract considerable attention both as interesting objects for fundamental studies and efficient catalysts. This review describes a relatively new offshoot of the field - namely, the chemistry of iridium complexes with aliphatic PC_sp3P non-innocent pincer ligands. High flexibility, often combined with possibility to activate internal C-H bonds, offers several new patterns of metal-ligand cooperation; some of them were successfully used in catalysis of acceptorless alcohol dehydrogenation, olefin hydroformylation and deuterium exchange, others opened up for remarkable stoichiometric reactions.