Cinnamaldehyde reduction

Aromatic unsaturated aldehydes behave differently, since they are vinylogues of benzaldehydes. In cinnamaldehydes, reduction of the C=0 group and C=C bond are almost equally competitive. However, the selective hydrogenation to hydrocinnamalde-hydes or cynnamyl alcohols is controlled depending on the metal, on the support, on additives and on solvent. Hydrocinnamaldehydes form selectively over Pd catalysts modified with potassium salts of weak acids or FeSO/. Cobalt carbonyl catalysts under 0X0 conditions, or CojfCOlg in the presence of amines, efficiently (96.4% yield) catalyze selective reduction " ... 

Scheme 1 Schematic of (a) citral and (b) cinnamaldehyde reduction pathways...

Hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde has been studied extensively since selectivity has often been an issue. Under mild conditions the carbonyl group is reduced giving cinnamyl alcohol, whereas at elevated temperatures complete reduction to 3-phenylpropanol [122-97 ] results. It is possible to saturate the double bond without concomitant reduction of the carbonyl group through selective hydrogenation with a ferrous chloride-activated palladium catalyst (30), thereby producing 3-phenylpropanol [104-53-0]. 

The commercial production of cinnamyl alcohol is accompHshed exclusively by the reduction of cinnamaldehyde. 

The above method is based on a process described by A. J. Hill and Edith H. Nason for the reduction of cinnamaldehyde. 

Reduction of unsaturated carbonyl compounds to the saturated carbonyl is achieved readily and in high yield. Over palladium the reduction will come to a near halt except under vigorous conditions (73). If an aryl carbonyl compound, or a vinylogous aryl carbonyl, such as in cinnamaldehyde is employed, some reduction of the carbonyl may occur as well. Carbonyl reduction can be diminished or stopped completely by addition of small amounts of potassium acetate (i5) to palladium catalysts. Other effective inhibitors are ferrous salts, such asferroussulfate, at a level of about one atom of iron per atom of palladium. The ferrous salt can be simply added to the hydrogenation solution (94). Homogeneous catalysts are not very effective in hydrogenation of unsaturated aldehydes because of the tendencies of these catalysts to promote decarbonylation. 

The procedure outlined is much quicker and simpler than previous methods Starting materials are readily available, and the preparation can be run on any scale in the length of a day. Because exclusion of a basic catalyst eliminates the Wolff-Kishner reduction of the cinnamalhydrazone, separation of the 5-phenylpyrazoline from cinnamalhydrazone, or of phenylcyclopropane from propenylbenzene, does not have to be effected. The present procedure can also be used to convert other ring-substituted cinnamaldehydes to the corresponding arylcyclo-propanes... 

Beller and coworkers reported hydrosilylation reactions of organic carbonyl compounds such as ketones and aldehydes catalyzed by Fe(OAc)2 with phosphorus ligands (Scheme 21). In case of aldehydes as starting materials, the Fe(OAc)2/PCy3 with polymethylhydrosiloxane (PMHS) as an H-Si compound produced the corresponding primary alcohols in good to excellent yields under mild conditions [67]. Use of other phosphorus ligands, for instance, PPhs, bis(diphenylphosphino) methane (dppm), and bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane (dppe) decreased the catalytic activity. It should be noted that frans-cinnamaldehyde was converted into the desired alcohol exclusively and 1,4-reduction products were not observed. 

Et2Zn also participates in the reductive coupling as a formal hydride source. Results for the Ni-catalyzed, Et2Zn-promoted homoallylation of carbonyl compounds with isoprene are summarized in Table 7 [30]. Et2Zn is so reactive that for the reaction with reactive aromatic aldehydes it causes direct ethylation of aldehydes, and the yields of homoallylation are diminished (runs 1 and 2). Unsaturated aldehydes seem to be subject to the Michael addition of Et2Zn. Accordingly, for the reaction with cinnamaldehyde, none of the expected homoallylation product is produced instead, the 1,4-addition product of Et2Zn, 3-phenylpentanal is produced exclusively (run 3). 

We recently reported a modified Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley reduction in which low-boiling alcohols such as EtOH and w-PrOH, but preferably i-PrOH, were used at temperatures near 225 °C in the absence of aluminum alkoxides [42]. The carbonyl moiety of an olefinic aldehyde such as cinnamaldehyde was reduced selectively to the alcohol without the carbon-carbon double bond being affected (Scheme 2.7). Since base was not present, aldol and Claisen-Schmidt condensations were avoided. 

Scheme 2.7 Uncatalyzed thermal hydrogen transfer reduction of cinnamaldehyde.

The useful chemoselective feature of the reaction is apparent from the reduction of trans-cinnamaldehyde (cinnamaldehyde/NaBH4-alumina, 1 1 mol equivalent) olefmic moiety remains intact and only the aldehyde functionality is reduced in a facile reaction. 

Fluoride ion is effective in promoting the reduction of aldehydes by organosil-icon hydrides (Eq. 161). The source of fluoride ion is important to the efficiency of reduction. Triethylsilane reduces benzaldehyde to triethylbenzyloxysilane in 36% yield within 10-12 hours in anhydrous acetonitrile solvent at room temperature when tetraethylammonium fluoride (TEAF) is used as the fluoride ion source and in 96% yield when cesium fluoride is used.83 The carbonyl functions of both p-anisaldehyde and cinnamaldehyde are reduced under similar conditions. Potassium bromide or chloride, or tetramethylammonium bromide or chloride are not effective at promoting similar behavior under these reaction conditions.83 Moderate yields of alcohols are obtained by the KF-catalyzed PMHS, (EtO SiH, or Me(EtO)2SiH reduction of aldehydes.80,83,79... 

Superior yields of ethers from aldehydes are obtained by the use of several other electrophilic species. The addition of 5 mol% of trityl perchlorate to a mixture of triethylsilane and 3-phenylpropanal in dichloromethane at 0° produces an 83% yield of bis-(3-phenylpropyl) ether within 10 minutes (Eq. 176),329 Reductive polycondensation of isophthalaldehyde occurs with two equivalents of triethylsilane in the presence of 10 mol% of trityl perchlorate to give 40-72% yields of polyether with average molecular weights ranging from 6,500 to 11,400 daltons (Eq. 177).337 Addition of one equivalent of an alkoxytrimethylsilane to the reaction mixture produces unsymmetrical ethers in good to excellent yields. Thus, a mixture of (ii)-cinnamaldehyde, 3-phenylpropoxytrimethylsilane, and triethylsilane in dichloromethane reacts under the influence of a catalytic amount of trityl perchlorate to give the unsymmetrical ether in 88% yield (Eq. 178).329... 

When carried out under standard conditions with Et3SiH/TFA, reduction of acrolein leads to a mixture of allyl alcohol, 1-propanol, and di-n-propyl ether in addition to allyl trifluoroacetate and -propyl trifluoroacetate.434 The 1,2-reduction of cinnamaldehyde with triethoxysilane in the presence of fluoride ion provides the corresponding allyl alcohol in good yields (Eq. 261). 

Diphenylsilane catalyzed by various salts promotes the 1,2-reduction of cinnamaldehyde.318 Cesium fluoride catalysis is particularly effective.320 It is possible to stop these reactions at the silyl ether stage.73,320 The 1,2-reduction of citral is accomplished in high yield with diphenylsilane and Wilkinson s catalyst (Eq. 262) 435 Interestingly, the trialkylsilanes, ethyldimethylsilane and triethylsilane, give high yields of the 1,4-reduction product whereas diisopropylsilane gives a 1 1 mixture of 1,2- and 1,4-reduction (Eq. 263)435... 

It has been shown previously how water-soluble rhodium Rh-TPPTS catalysts allow for efficient aldehyde reduction, although chemoselectivity favors the olefmic bond in the case of unsaturated aldehydes [17]. The analogous ruthenium complex shows selectivity towards the unsaturated alcohol in the case of crotonaldehyde and cinnamaldehyde [31]. 

A typical probe reaction for estimating catalytic properties in selective hydrogenations is the hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde. This molecule contains both a C=C and a C=0 double bond, thus the formation of hydrocinnamaldehyde and/or cinnamyl alcohol by reduction of the one or the other, or the formation of phenyl propanol in the case of complete reduction may indicate the potential of the catalyst for other fine chemical transformations. Indeed, this reaction was one of the first to be tested by CNT-supported catalysts [120]. Noble metals show a high activity in this reaction and... 

Cinnamaldehyde, by reduction of cinna-monitrile with Raney nickel alloy in formic acid, 51,25 from the ester-mesylate, 51,76 Cinnamic acid, 50,18 CINNAMONITRILE, 50,18 Condensation, of p-acetylbenzenediazo-nium bromide with acrylic acid, 51,1... 

Reduction of the double bond only was achieved by catalytic hydrogenation over palladium prepared by reduction with sodium borohydride. This catalyst does not catalyze hydrogenation of the aldehyde group [31]. Also sodium borohydride-reduced nickel was used for conversion of cinnamaldehyde to hydrocinnamaldehyde [31]. Homogeneous hydrogenation over tris(triphenylphosphine)rhodium chloride gave 60% of hydrocinnamaldehyde and 40% of ethylbenzene [5(5]. Raney nickel, by contrast, catalyzes total reduction to hydrocinnamyl alcohol [4S. Total reduction of both the double... 

Many more examples exist for reduction of the carhonyl only. Over an osmium catalyst [763] or platinum catalyst activated by zinc acetate and ferrous chloride [782] cinnamaldehyde was hydrogenated to cinnamyl alcohol. The same product was obtained by gentle reduction with lithium aluminum hydride at —10° using the inverse technique [609], by reduction with alane (prepared in situ from lithium aluminum hydride and aluminum chloride)... 

Production. Cinnamic alcohol is prepared on an industrial scale by reduction of cinnamaldehyde. Three methods are particularly useful ... 

In the Meerwein-Fonndorf reduction, cinnamaldehyde is reduced to cinnamic alcohol (yield ca. 85%) with isopropyl or benzyl alcohol in the presence of the corresponding aluminum alcoholate. 

High yields of cinnamic alcohol can be obtained by reduction of cinnamaldehyde with alkali borohydrides. Formation of dihydrocinnamic alcohol is thus avoided [146]. 

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