A review. The asym. hydrogenation of olefins is a tremendously powerful tool used to synthesize chiral mols. The field was pioneered using rhodium- and ruthenium- based catalysts; however, catalysts based on both of these metals suffer from limitations, such as the need for directing substituents near or even adjacent to the olefin. Iridium-based catalysts do not suffer from this flaw and can thus hydrogenate a wide variety of olefins, including some tetra substituted ones. It is also possible for iridium-based catalysts to hydrogenate hetero-π bonds such as those found in heteroarom. rings. This review summarizes the contributions made to this field by the authors in the past few years. [on SciFinder(R)]