Amines from reductive cleavage

The reductive cleavage of azo compounds to aromatic amines requires anaerobic conditions and then bacterial biodegradation of the aromatic amines is an almost exclusively aerobic process therefore, a combined anaerobic-aerobic bacterial process is most effective for removing azo dyes from wastewater. 

Another example of solid phase DOS involves post-modification of the natural product macrolide antibiotic erythromycin (34) [77]. Erythromycin was first converted to analogue 32 which resembles a third generation macrolide antibiotic with high activity against resistant strains (ABT-773, 35), but is attached to solid phase-bound amino acids by reductive amination. Two further reductive amination steps and cleavage from solid support form a library of compounds of type 33 (Fig. 10). 

An example that demonstrates the possibilities inherent in the Hg cathode —(C4H9)4N + electrolyte method, for the preparation of products which are inaccessible by other methods, is found in the reduction of diphenyl ether 12). The only products of 12 from reduction with alkali metals in liquid NH3, amine solvent or HMPA 43b-e) were phenol and benzene, presumably arising from cleavage at the radical anion stage. Similarly phenol and benzene were formed by cathodic reduction... 

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