Transition metal‐catalyzed C3‐alkylation of indoles and oxindoles with nonderivatized alcohols, by means of borrowing hydrogen (BH) activation of the alcohol substrates, avoids the use of environmentally unfriendly alkylating agents. Only water is formed as the byproduct, thus making the BH process atom‐economical and environmentally benign. Diverse homogeneous and heterogeneous transition‐metal catalysts, indoles and oxindoles, and nonderivatized alcohols can be used for this transformation, hence rendering the BH process promising for replacing those procedures that use traditional alkylating agents. Although some earlier literature is discussed, this review mainly covers the literature published since 2015.

通过借由醇底物的氢（BH）活化，过渡金属催化的吲哚和羟吲哚与非衍生化醇的C3-烷基化反应避免了使用对环境不利的烷基化剂。仅形成水作为副产物，因此使BH工艺具有原子经济性和环境友好性。各种均相和非均相过渡金属催化剂，吲哚和羟吲哚以及非衍生化醇均可用于该转化，因此BH工艺有望取代那些使用传统烷基化剂的工艺。尽管讨论了一些较早的文献，但本综述主要涵盖自2015年以来发表的文献。