Figure | Site-selective hydrogenation of arenes. a, Directing strategy for site-selectivity control. b, Arene hydrogenation provides an important and straightforward approach to access sp 3 -rich scaffolds, potentially leading to better analogues. c, Site-selective arene hydrogenation is achieved by the directing strategy in this work, which selectively reduces the middle benzene ring in the presence of conventionally more reactive aromatic moieties. DG, directing group.