A detailed mechanistic study of the catalytic hydrosilylation of ketones with the highly active and enantioselective iron(II) boxmi complexes as catalysts (up to >99% ee) was carried out to elucidate the pathways for precatalyst activation and the mechanism for the iron-catalyzed hydrosilylation. Carboxylate precatalysts were found to be activated by reduction of the carboxylate ligand to the corresponding alkoxide followed by entering the catalytic cycle for the iron-catalyzed hydrosilylation. An Eyring-type analysis of the temperature dependence of the enantiomeric ratio established a linear relationship of ln(S/R) and T-1 indicating a single selectivity-determining step over the whole temperature range from-40 to +65 degrees C (Delta Delta G(sel)(double dagger),(233 K) = 9 +/- 1 kJ/ mol). The rate law as well as activation parameters for the rate-determining step were derived and complemented by a Hammett analysis, radical clock experiments, kinetic isotope effect (KIE) measurements (k(H)/k(D) = 3.0 +/- 0.2), the isolation of the catalytically active alkoxide intermediate, and DFT-modeling of the whole reaction sequence. The proposed reaction mechanism is characterized by a rate-determining a-bond metathesis of an alkoxide complex with the silane, subsequent coordination of the ketone to the iron hydride complex, and insertion of the ketone into the Fe-H bond to regenerate the alkoxide complex.