Carbonyl groups hydride reduction

Ans. The reaction is visualized in terms of the ionic structure (Sec. 14.4) for the carbonyl group. Hydride reduction proceeds in two steps. First, the metal hydride supplies a hydride ion which adds to the of the carbonyl group. Second, HjO supplies which adds to the of the carbonyl group ... 

Synthetically useful stereoselective reductions have been possible with cyclic carbonyl compounds of rigid conformation. Reduction of substituted cyclohexanone and cyclopentan-one rings by hydrides of moderate activity, e.g. NaBH (J.-L. Luche, 1978), leads to alcohols via hydride addition to the less hindered side of the carbonyl group. Hydrides with bulky substituents 3IQ especially useful for such regio- and stereoselective reductions, e.g. lithium hydrotri-t-butoxyaluminate (C.H. Kuo, 1968) and lithium or potassium tri-sec-butylhydro-borates or hydrotri-sec-isoamylborates (=L-, K-, LS- and KS-Selectrides ) (H.C. Brown, 1972 B C.A. Brown, 1973 S. Krishnamurthy, 1976). 

Conjugate reduction.1 This stable copper(I) hydride cluster can effect conjugate hydride addition to a,p-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, with apparent utilization of all six hydride equivalents per cluster. No 1,2-reduction of carbonyl groups or reduction of isolated double bonds is observed. Undesirable side reactions such as aldol condensation can be suppressed by addition of water. Reactions in the presence of chlorotrimethylsilane result in silyl enol ethers. The reduction is stereoselective, resulting in hydride delivery to the less-hindered face of the substrate. 

The close relationship between alcohols and carbonyls has become apparent in this chapter. Oxidation of alcohols produces the carbonyl group and reduction of the carbonyl, by hydrides or organometallic reagents, produces the alcohol. Protecting groups for alcohols, aldehydes, and ketones were introduced in Section 16.10. 

Carboxylic acids, their esters, and amides are usually resistant to sodium borohydride reduction, whereas carboxylic acid chlorides may be reduced in inert solvents to give alcohols. Where this proves unsatisfactory a new alternative procedure for acid chloride reduction in ether solution involves sodium borohydride adsorbed on alumina. Other recently published borohydride reductions of acid derivatives to primary alcohols include those of the 1-succinimidyl esters (8)" and the N-nitroso-amides (9). 2-Methoxyethoxymethyl (MEM) esters have the possibility of co-ordinating the metal cation of complex hydrides at the MEM group, and hence of activating the carbonyl group towards reduction by intramolecular hydride delivery. The selective reduction of the less hindered ester group in the bis-MEM ester (10) to give (11) illustrates this idea. 

Reduction of Carbonyl Groups. Rapid reduction of salts of carboxylic acids to alcohols with 2 molar equivalents of borane in tetrahydrofuran (THF) has been reported. Full details have appeared of the improved procedure for reduction of esters to primary alcohols, using borane dimethyl sulphide (6,157) in THF at reflux, which allows the dimethyl sulphide that is liberated to distil off during the reaction. Further suggested procedures for the reduction of esters to primary alcohols use lithium borohydride in diethyl ether or THF, calcium borohydride in THF, and sodium borohydride in a t-butyl alcohol-methanol mixed solvent. The reactions using lithium borohydride-diethyl ether can be catalysed by lithium 9-boratobicyclo[3.3.1]nonane (1), lithium triethylboro-hydride, or the Lewis acid 9-methoxy-9-borabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane (2). ... 

Lithium aluminium hydride LiAlH is a useful and conveuient reagent for the selective reduction of the carbonyl group and of various other polar functional groups. It is obtained by treatment of finely powdered lithium hydride with an ethereal solution of anhydrous aluminium chloride ... 

Neither sodium borohydride nor lithium aluminum hydride reduces isolated carbon-carbon double bonds This makes possible the selective reduction of a carbonyl group m a molecule that contains both carbon-carbon and carbon-oxygen double bonds... 

The enzyme is a single enantiomer of a chiral molecule and binds the coenzyme and substrate m such a way that hydride is transferred exclusively to the face of the carbonyl group that leads to (5) (+) lactic acid Reduction of pyruvic acid m the absence of an enzyme however say with sodium borohydride also gives lactic acid but as a racemic mixture containing equal quantities of the R and S enantiomers... 

Reduction of an azide a nitrile or a nitro compound furnishes a primary amine A method that provides access to primary secondary or tertiary amines is reduction of the carbonyl group of an amide by lithium aluminum hydride... 

The carbonyl group of carbohydrates can be reduced to an alcohol function Typi cal procedures include catalytic hydrogenation and sodium borohydnde reduction Lithium aluminum hydride is not suitable because it is not compatible with the solvents (water alcohols) that are required to dissolve carbohydrates The products of carbohydrate reduc tion are called alditols Because these alditols lack a carbonyl group they are of course incapable of forming cyclic hemiacetals and exist exclusively m noncyclic forms... 

The well-known reduction of carbonyl groups to alcohols has been refined in recent studies to render the reaction more regioselective and more stereoselective Per-fluorodiketones are reduced by lithium aluminum hydride to the corresponding diols, but the use of potassium or sodium borohydride allows isolation of the ketoalcohol Similarly, a perfluoroketo acid fluonde yields diol with lithium aluminum hydnde, but the related hydroxy acid is obtainable with potassium borohydnde [i f] (equations 46 and 47)... 

Reduction of amides (Section 22.9) Lithium aluminum hydride reduces the carbonyl group of an amide to a methylene group. Primary, secondary, or tertiary amines may be prepared by proper choice of the starting amide. R and R may be either alkyl or aryl. 

Grignard and alkyl lithium reagents were found to add to the carbonyl group of a tricyclic vinylogous amide. However, the same compound underwent the usual vinylogous reduction with lithium aluminum hydride (712). Grignard additions to di- and trichloroenamines gave a-chloro- and dichloroketones (713). 

Vinylogous amides undergo reduction with lithium aluminum hydride, by Michael addition of hydride and formation of an enolate, which can resist further reduction. Thus -aminoketones are usually produced (309, 563,564). However, the alternative selective reduction of the carbonyl group has also been claimed (555). 

Interestingly, true hydrides, such as NaH and KH, do not reduce carbonyl groups. Using energies of hydride and methoxide (at left), calculate AH xn for the reduction of formaldehyde by H. Is this reaction more or less favorable than those based on ZH4 Can the low reactivity of NaH and KH be attributed to thermodynamic factors, or must kinetic factors be responsible ... 

We ll defer a detailed discussion of the mechanisms of these reductions until Chapter 19. For the moment, we ll simply note that they involve the addition of a nucleophilic hydride ion ( H ) to the positively polarized, electrophilic carbon atom of the carbonyl group. The initial product is an afkoxide ion, which is protonated by addition of H 0+ in a second step to yield the alcohol product. 

Figure 19.7 Mechanism of carbonyl-group reduction by nucleophilic addition of "hydride ion" from NaBH4 or LiAIH4.

Conversion of Acid Chlorides into Alcohols Reduction Acid chlorides are reduced by LiAJH4 to yield primary alcohols. The reaction is of little practical value, however, because the parent carboxylic acids are generally more readily available and can themselves be reduced by L1AIH4 to yield alcohols. Reduction occurs via a typical nucleophilic acyl substitution mechanism in which a hydride ion (H -) adds to the carbonyl group, yielding a tetrahedral intermediate that expels Cl-. The net effect is a substitution of -Cl by -H to yield an aldehyde, which is then immediately reduced by UAIH4 in a second step to yield the primary alcohol. 

The mechanism of ester (and lactone) reduction is similar to that of acid chloride reduction in that a hydride ion first adds to the carbonyl group, followed by elimination of alkoxide ion to yield an aldehyde. Further reduction of the aldehyde gives the primary alcohol. 

Amide reduction occurs by nucleophilic addition of hydride ion to the amicle carbonyl group, followed by expulsion of the oxygen atom as an alumi-nate anion leaving group to give an iminium ion intermediate. The intermediate iminium ion is then further reduced by JL1AIH4 to yield the amine. 

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