This Report highlights advances in some of the most commonly used oxidation and reduction reactions, focusing on the literature from 2008. Significant advances in oxidation chemistry include site-selective epoxidation of polyprenols, bis(hydroxamic acid) ligands for vanadium(V)-catalysed highly enantioselective epoxidation of cis-disubstituted olefins, a direct catalytic aziridination of styrenes with ammonia and an aerobic ruthenium-catalysed alkene to aldehyde oxidation displaying non-Wacker regiochemistry. Significant advances in reduction chemistry include adaptive supramolecular METAMORPhos ligands for asymmetric alkene hydrogenation, early main-group metal catalysts for alkene hydrogenation and the use of frustrated Lewis pairs to effect H2 bond scission for imine and nitrile reduction.