Pyridinium salts aluminum hydrides

Lithium aluminum hydride reduction of pyridinium salts is very similar to sodium horohydride reduction and gives similar products, but the ratio of 1,2- and 1,4-dihydro- or tetrahydropyridines differs considerably (5). Isoquinolinium salts are reduced hy sodium borohydride or lithium aluminum hydride in a manner identical to pyridinium salts (5). Quino-linium salts are reduced by sodium borohydride to give primarily tetra-hydroquinolines (72) as shown by the conversion of 33 to 34 and 35. When lithium aluminum hydride is used, the product is usually the dihydroquinoline (73) as shown in the conversion of 36 to 37 and 38. 

Thus the critical synthetic 1,6-dihydropyridine precursor for the unique isoquinuclidine system of the iboga alkaloids, was generated by reduction of a pyridinium salt with sodium borohydride in base (137-140). Lithium aluminum hydride reduction of phenylisoquinolinium and indole-3-ethylisoquinolinium salts gave enamines, which could be cyclized to the skeletons found in norcoralydine (141) and the yohimbane-type alkaloids (142,143). 

Several total syntheses of antirhine (11) and 18,19-dihydroantirhine (14) have been developed during the last decade. Wenkert et al. (136) employed a facile route to ( )-18,19-dihydroantirhine, using lactone 196 as a key building block. Base-catalyzed condensation of methyl 4-methylnicotinate (193) with methyl oxalate, followed by hydrolysis, oxidative decarboxylation with alkaline hydrogen peroxide, and final esterification, resulted in methyl 4-(methoxycar-bonylmethyl)nicotinate (194). Condensation of 194 with acetaldehyde and subsequent reduction afforded nicotinic ester derivative 195, which was reduced with lithium aluminum hydride, and the diol product obtained was oxidized with manganese dioxide to yield the desired lactone 196. Alkylation of 196 with tryptophyl bromide (197) resulted in a pyridinium salt whose catalytic reduction... 

B. Reduction of Pyridines and Pyridinium Salts with Lithium Aluminum Hydride... 

The reduction of pyridinium quaternary salts with LAH has been reported to yield dihydro- and tetrahydropyridines, depending upon the structure of the salt and the conditions of the reaction. Kuss and Karrer63 reported the formation of a 1,2-dihydropyridine from the reaction of 1,2,6-trimethyl-4-phenyl-3,5-diethoxycarbonylpyridinium methosulfate and lithium aluminum hydride in ether. Ferles64 indicated that 1,3-dimethylpyridinium iodide (46) gave exclusively l,3-dimethyl-l,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridine (47) on reaction with LAH in chloroform. 

The reduction of 2-substituted-isoquinolinium salts has been reported by Torossian65 with potassium borohydride in water, by Mirza,68 and by Durmand et al.,87,68 using sodium borohydride in aqueous methanol to yield 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolines. The reduction of the second double bond appears to arise from a mechanism similar to that leading to tetrahydropyridines from pyridinium ions (see Section I). Mirza66 (see also Bose60) found that the reduction of berberine (60) with sodium borohydride could be stopped at the 1,2-dihydro-intermediate (61), and Karrer and Brook70 showed that the 1,2-dihydroisoquinoline formed by the lithium aluminum hydride reduction of l-phenyl-2-methylisoquinolinium iodide (62) could be further reduced to the 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline (63) with sodium borohydride in methanol. Awe et al.71,72 and Huffman73... 

Piperideines unsubstituted at the nitrogen atom may be prepared from the corresponding pyridine compounds by partial reduction with sodium and boiling alcohols (the Ladenburg reduction), by electrolytic reduction, or, preferably, by reduction with aluminum hydride. l-Alkyl-3-piperideines are prepared by reduction of quaternary pyridinium salts with formic acid (the Lukes reduction) or with complex hydrides. 

Somewhat less useful is the aluminum hydride reduction of quaternary pyridinium salts. Reduction of the salts may be more conveniently performed by the use of sodium borohydride (see Section II, B, 6). Moreover, the aluminum hydride reductions of some dialkyl-pyridinium salts are accompanied by reductive cleavage of the pyridine ring,77 For example, methiodides of 2,5-dimethylpyridine,77 2-methyl-5-ethylpyridine,77 and 2-ethyl-5-methylpyridine61 afford mixtures of the corresponding tetrahydro and hexahydro bases along with a secondary amine, viz., 5-methylaminomethyl-2,4-hexadiene, 5-methylaminomethyl-2,4-heptadiene, and 7-methylamino-6-methyl-2,4-heptadiene, respectively. 

In contrast to aluminum hydride reductions (see Section II, B, 4), no ring openings have been observed in reductions of quaternary pyridinium salts by means of sodium borohydride. Whenever possible, both isomeric tetrahydropyridines are formed, as it may be seen from the following examples (aluminum hydride, electrolytic, and formic acid reductions are included for comparison). 

Lithium aluminum hydride (LAH) reductions are carried out in aprotic solvents and give rise to the dihydro- and tetrahydropyridine derivatives. LAH reacts with both pyridines and pyridinium salts. It has been known for some time that aged ( 24 h) pyridine and LAH solutions form complexes of lithium tetrakis(A -dihydropyridinyl)aluminate (40, LDPA), - which is believed to consist of a mixture of the 1,2- and 1,4-dihydropyridines (by NMR). Indeed, LDPA itself has been used as a selective reducing agent for ketones and affords 3-substituted pyridines (41) on reaction with alkyl halides. 2,5-Dihydropyridines have been identified as intermediates in similar reactions. Kuthan and co-workers have shown that for 3,5-dicyan-... 

Pyridinium salts react more readily with LAH than do pyridines, affording mixtures of di- and tetrahydropyridines. However, prolonged heating of alkylpyridinium salts with excess sodium aluminum hydride in tetrahydro-furan generates 3-piperidienes (120) with 5-alkylamino-l,3-pentadiene (121) as the major products. Small amounts of the piperidines (119) were also obtained. Similar behavior has been noticed with other alkylpyridinium salts. ... 

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