A variety of primary alcohols have been investigated as convenient substrates for the ex situ delivery of carbon monoxide and molecular hydrogen in a two-chamber reactor. The gaseous mixture is liberated in one chamber by an iridium-catalysed dehydrogenative decarbonylation of the alcohol and then consumed in the other chamber in either a rhodium-catalysed hydroformylation of olefins or a palladium-catalysed reductive carbonylation of aryl halides. Hexane-1,6-diol was found to be the optimum alcohol for both reactions where moderate to excellent yields were obtained of the product aldehydes. A relatively low pressure of 1.5–2.4 bar was measured in the closed system during the two transformations.