Alcohols ester reduction gives

The reaction between perfluoraarylmagnesium halides and esters of dicar-boxyltc acids gives, besides the expected keto esters, secondary alcohols as reduction products [29, 30, 31] (equation 10) Such a reduction is enhanced by higher temperature The hydrogen necessary for reduction comes from the solvent, diethyl ether, which is dehydrogenated to ethyl vinyl ether, which has been identified as a by-product in a similar reaction of perfluoroalkyllithium compound [52]... 

The strategy for the construction of 13 from aldehyde 16 with two units of phosphonate 15 is summarized in Scheme 12. As expected, aldehyde 16 condenses smoothly with the anion derived from 15 to give, as the major product, the corresponding E,E,E-tri-ene ester. Reduction of the latter substance to the corresponding primary alcohol with Dibal-H, followed by oxidation with MnC>2, then furnishes aldehyde 60 in 86 % overall yield. Reiteration of this tactic and a simple deprotection step completes the synthesis of the desired intermediate 13 in good overall yield and with excellent stereoselectivity. 

Aldehydes and ketones can be converted to ethers by treatment with an alcohol and triethylsilane in the presence of a strong acid or by hydrogenation in alcoholic acid in the presence of platinum oxide. The process can formally be regarded as addition of ROH to give a hemiacetal RR C(OH)OR", followed by reduction of the OH. In this respect, it is similar to 16-14. In a similar reaction, ketones can be converted to carboxylic esters (reductive acylation of ketones) by treatment with an acyl chloride and triphenyltin hydride. " ... 

The ability of enzymes to achieve the selective esterification of one enantiomer of an alcohol over the other has been exploited by coupling this process with the in situ metal-catalysed racemisation of the unreactive enantiomer. Marr and co-workers have used the rhodium and iridium NHC complexes 44 and 45 to racemise the unreacted enantiomer of substrate 7 [17]. In combination with a lipase enzyme (Novozyme 435), excellent enantioselectivities were obtained in the acetylation of alcohol 7 to give the ester product 43 (Scheme 11.11). A related dynamic kinetic resolution has been reported by Corberdn and Peris [18]. hi their chemistry, the aldehyde 46 is readily racemised and the iridium NHC catalyst 35 catalyses the reversible reduction of aldehyde 46 to give an alcohol which is acylated by an enzyme to give the ester 47 in reasonable enantiomeric excess. 

In a study aim to develop biocatalytic process for the synthesis of Kaneka alcohol, apotential intermediate for the synthesis of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, cell suspensions of Acine-tobacter sp. SC 13 874 was found to reduce diketo ethyl ester to give the desired syn-(AR,5S)-dihydroxy ester with an ee of 99% and a de of 63% (Figure 7.4). When the tert-butyl ester was used as the starting material, a mixture of mono- and di-hydroxy esters was obtained with the dihydroxy ester showing an ee of 87% and de of 51% for the desired, sy -(3/t,5,Sr)-dihydroxy ester [16]. Three different ketoreductases were purified from this strain. Reductase I only catalyzes the reduction of diketo ester to its monohydroxy products, whereas reductase II catalyzes the formation of dihydroxy products from monohydroxy substrates. A third reductase (III) catalyzes the reduction of diketo ester to, vv -(3/t,55)-dihydroxy ester. 

Reduction of the keto group in naphtho derivative 115 with sodium borohydride results in 69% of the alcohol 116 (Scheme 23, Section 2.1.3.3 (1999PHA645)). Further triethylsilane reduction gives 117 in 67% yield. Synthesis of a series of pyrrolo-benzazepine and pyrrolo-benzothiazepine acetic acids (Scheme 77, Section 5.1.1 (1994MI385)) includes reduction of ketoesters 380 into corresponding hydroxyl esters, subsequent deoxygenation with iodine/PPhs and hydrolysis. 

Curtius reaction of ester 196 in benzyl alcohol leads to benzylurethane 197, which by hydrolysis and catalytic reduction gives amine 198 (72JCS(P1)878, 69JCS(C)2235). The primary amino group of compound 198 was converted into dimethylamino using the Eschweiler reaction, and then selectively quaterniz. Hofmann cleavage of this salt then leads to furo[4,3,2-/g]benzazocine 199 (Scheme 54). 

The hrst step in the preparation of the antidepressant maprotiline (33-5) takes advantage of the acidity of anthrone protons for incorporation of the side chain. Thus treatment of (30-1) with ethyl acrylate and a relatively mild base leads to the Michael adduct saponihcation of the ester group gives the corresponding acid (33-1). The ketone group is then reduced by means of zinc and ammonium hydroxide. Dehydration of the hrst-formed alcohol under acidic conditions leads to the formation of fully aromatic anthracene (33-2). Diels-Alder addition of ethylene under high pressure leads to the addition across the 9,10 positions and the formation of the central 2,2,2-bicyclooctyl moiety (33-3). The hnal steps involve the construction of the typical antidepressant side chain. The acid in (33-3) is thus converted to an acid chloride and that function reacted with methylamine to form the amide (33-4). Reduction to a secondary amine completes the synthesis of (33-5) [33]. 

Enantioselective Diels-Alder reaction,3 The reaction of the chiral acrylate ester 1 with butadiene catalyzed with this Lewis acid followed by hydride reduction gives the alcohol 2 in 70% chemical yield and 86-91% ee. A1C13 and SnCl4 are inferior in terms of either the chemical or optical yield. The product (2) was used for a chiral synthesis of (R)-(- )-sarkomycin (4). 

Reduction of the ester group to give secondary alcohol 54 and sub sequent protection with /e/t-butyldimethylsilyl chloride leads to si-lyl ether 55 Oxidative cleavage of the cyclopropyl ring in this system proceeds through a radical mechanism and results in ben/oate ester 56. Basic ester hydrolysis gives piimar> alcohol 16... 

The acyl portion of the ester gives a primary alcohol on reduction. The alkyl group bonded to oxygen may be primary, secondary, or tertiary and gives the corresponding alcohol. 

In the amide reduction scheme on p. 618, the step framed in green gives an iminium ion. Stopping the reaction here would therefore provide a way of making aldehydes from amides. Because these tetrahedral intermediates are rather more stable than those from ester reduction, this can often be achieved simply by carrying out the amide reduction, and quenching, at 0°C (-70 °C is usually needed to stop esters overreducing to alcohols). 

Lithium borohydride decomposed by /V-benzoylcysteine (61) or /V/v -dibenzoylcystine (62), a sulfur-containing modifier, is a highly efficient chiral reducing agent. A complex prepared from (61), t-butyl alcohol and LiBH4 affords carbinols in maximum 92% ee by the reduction of aryl alkyl ketones in THF at -78 °C (Scheme 13). A LiBH4 complex with (62) and t-butyl alcohol is useful for the reduction of -keto esters to give (R)-P-hydroxy esters in up to 91 % ee. In both cases the use of r-butyl alcohol is essential in order to achieve efficient enantiofacial differentiation. ... 

In general, the dissolving metal or electrochemical reductions of acyl halides or acyclic anhydrides are not useful for the preparation of primary alcohols. Such reductions invariably provide acyloin esters, ene-diolate diesters or related species. Cyclic anhydrides may be reduced to give lactones. For example, the reduction of phthalic anhydride at a mercury cathode has been used in the synthesis of phthalide (90%). In general, however, such reduction are not widely employed in synthesis. 

Intramolecular asymmetric induction has also been used in electrochemistry as in the reduction of optically active alcohol esters or amides of a-keto [469,470] and unsaturated [471] acids and oximes [472] and in the oxidation of olefins [473]. A maximum asymmetric yield of 81% was obtained in the reduction of (5 )-4-isopropyl-2-oxazolidinone phenyl-glyoxylate [470]. Nonaka and coworkers [474,475] found that amino acid A-carboxy anhydrides were polymerized with various electrogenerated bases as catalyst to give the poly(amino acids) with high chirality in high yields. Conductive chiral poly(thiophenes) prepared by electropolymerization can be used for chiral anion recognition [476]. 

White undertook a rather different approach to the construction of 56, as shown in Scheme 4.15. Hagemann s ester (62) was converted to the related dienol acetate and reduced to give a 68% yield of the hydroxy ester 63, contaminated with a small amount of the isomeric allylic alcohol. A reduction-oxidation sequence produced the intermediate aldehyde, which was subjected to chain extension by Wadsworth-Emmmons reaction to produce the diene ester 64 in 56% yield. 

The titanium enolate of phenylalanine-derived oxazolidinone (128) reacts with a variety of other electrophiles, including alkyl halides, ortho esters and acetals, with high diastereoselectivity <90JA8215>. The lithium enolate of (128) reacts with diphenyldisulfide to give 2-phenylthio aldehydes or alcohols after reduction with Red-Al or LiBH4, respectively (Scheme 55) <94TL3991>. 

The way they solved the problem was this. (S )-(-)-Malic acid is available cheaply. Its dimethyl ester 127 could be chemoselectively reduced by borane to give 128. Normally borane does not reduce esters and clearly the borane first reacts with the OH group and then delivers hydride to the nearer carbonyl group. The primary alcohol was chemoselectively tosylated 129 and the remaining (secondary) OH protected with a silyl group 130 (TBDMS stands for t-butyldimethylsilyl and is sometimes abbreviated to TBS). Now the remaining ester can be reduced to an aldehyde 131 and protected 132. Displacement of tosylate by cyanide puts in the extra carbon atom 133 and reduction gives 134, that is the dialdehyde 126 in which one of the two aldehydes is protected. This compound was used in the successful synthesis of lipstatin. 

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