Reduction acetals. -2,4-pentanediol

Reduction of Acetals. Reductions of acetals of 2,4-pentanediol can provide (after removal of the chiral auxiliary by oxidation and 3 elimination) secondary alcohols with good enan-tioselectivity. The choice of reagents dictates the configuration of the final product. Use of Dibromoalane gives products from selective syn cleavage of the acetal while Triethylsilane/Titanium(IV) Chloride gives the more usual anti cleavage products (eq 2). ... 

The combination of the enantiomerically pure 7V-methylephedrine derived silylketene acetal l-[(l/ ,2S)-2-dimethylamino-1-phenylpropoxy]-l-triniethylsilyloxy-l-propene with the chiral aldehyde (,R)-3-benzyloxy-2-methylpropanal leads, after reduction with lithium aluminum hydride, to the formation of a single 1,3-pentanediol 9 ( matched pair ). 

Reaction with chiral acetals. The chiral ketals derived from (2R,4R)-(-)-2,4-pentanediol (1) can be cleaved with high diastercoselectivity by aluminum hydride reagents, in particular DIBAH, CI2AIH, and Br,AlH. Oxidative removal of the chiral auxiliary affords optically active alcohols. This process provides a useful method for highly asymmetric reduction of dialkyl ketones. ... 

Aldol coupling of chiral acetals. The acetals (2) prepared from an aldehyde and (2R,4R)-pentanediol react with a-silyl ketones orenol silyl ethers in the presence of TiCI, to form aldol ethers 3 and 4 with high diastereoselectivity (>95 5). Removal of the chiral auxiliary usually results in decomposition of the aldol, but can be effected after reduction... 

Neopentyl glycol is used in the preparation of polyesters. Because there are no /3-hydrogen atoms, the polymers are more stable. The self-condensation of isobutyraldehyde followed by reduction leads to 2,2,4-trimethyl-1,3-pentanediol, the monoisobutyrate of which is the most common coalescing agent (used at 0.5-2 vol%) in latex paints. Isobutyl acetate is used as a solvent for nitrocellulose coatings. 

Pentanediol [(R,/ )-28] has been used for the formation of chiral acetals and as a precursor for chiral alkenes (Sections D.1.5.1. and 1.6.1.5.). The original procedure for the resolution of the phenylboronic acid derivative with brucine39 was impractical, but recently a kinetic resolution by lipase-catalyzed esterification and hydrolysis has been developed40. In addition, a good method for catalytic reduction of 1,3-diketones with Raney nickel modified with sodium bromide and tartaric acid (for a procedure, see Section D.2,3.1.) allowed the production for commercial purposes41. Similarly, sterically more hindered and less water-soluble 2,6-dimethyl-3,5-heptanediol (29) has been introduced for the same purpose. It is obtained in the same way from the diketone and separated from the meio-compound by simple recrystallization42. 

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