Cyclohexanol reduction

Aromatic rings in lignin may be converted to cyclohexanol derivatives by catalytic hydrogenation at high temperatures (250°C) and pressures (20—35 MPa (200—350 atm)) using copper—chromium oxide as the catalyst (11). Similar reduction of aromatic to saturated rings has been achieved using sodium in hquid ammonia as reductants (12). 

Dicyclohexylarnine may be selectively generated by reductive alkylation of cyclohexylamine by cyclohexanone (15). Stated batch reaction conditions are specifically 0.05—2.0% Pd or Pt catalyst, which is reusable, pressures of 400—700 kPa (55—100 psi), and temperatures of 75—100°C to give complete reduction in 4 h. Continuous vapor-phase amination selective to dicyclohexylarnine is claimed for cyclohexanone (16) or mixed cyclohexanone plus cyclohexanol (17) feeds. Conditions are 5—15 s contact time of <1 1 ammonia ketone, - 3 1 hydrogen ketone at 260°C over nickel on kieselguhr. With mixed feed the preferred conditions over a mixed copper chromite plus nickel catalyst are 18-s contact time at 250 °C with ammonia alkyl = 0.6 1 and hydrogen alkyl = 1 1. 

Production of cyclohexylamine reflects this balance of raw material versus operating cost stmcture. When aniline cost and availabiUty are reasonable, the preferred route is aniline ring reduction alternatively the cyclohexanol amination route is chosen. 

Cyclohexanone shows most of the typical reactions of aUphatic ketones. It reacts with hydroxjiamine, phenyUiydrazine, semicarbazide, Grignard reagents, hydrogen cyanide, sodium bisulfite, etc, to form the usual addition products, and it undergoes the various condensation reactions that are typical of ketones having cx-methylene groups. Reduction converts cyclohexanone to cyclohexanol or cyclohexane, and oxidation with nitric acid converts cyclohexanone almost quantitatively to adipic acid. 

The methylimidazolide reacts more slowly with an alcohol (cf. c-QHnOH) but not with respect to an amine (cf. C-QH11NH2) in comparison with the unsubstituted imi-dazolide. Introduction of an additional alkyl group into the imidazole ring further retards the transphosphorylation. Thus, the 2-ethyl-4-methylimidazolide did not react with cyclohexanol within 70 h at room temperature, while with cyclohexylamine an amide was produced, albeit with a reduction in yield.[190] Hence, a certain degree of selectivity towards amines was achieved with the 2-ethyl-4-methylimidazolide. Selectivity toward amines and alcohols was also observed with the 2-ethyl- or isopropyl-4-nitroimidazolide. 

Padhi, S.K., Kaluzna, I.A., Buisson, D. et al. (2007) Reductions of cyclic beta-keto esters by individual Saccharomyces cerevisiae dehydrogenases and a chemo-enzymatic route to (lR,2S)-2-methyl-l-cyclohexanol. Tetrahedron Asymmetry, 18 (18), 2133-2138. 

Tributyltin hydride reduction of carbonyl compounds. The reduction of carbonyl compounds with metal hydrides can also proceed via an electron-transfer activation in analogy to the metal hydride insertion into TCNE.188 Such a notion is further supported by the following observations (a) the reaction rates are enhanced by light as well as heat 189 (b) the rate of the reduction depends strongly on the reduction potentials of ketones. For example, trifluoroacetophenone ( re<1 = —1.38 V versus SCE) is quantitatively reduced by Bu3SnH in propionitrile within 5 min, whereas the reduction of cyclohexanone (Erea — 2.4 V versus SCE) to cyclohexanol (under identical... 

Aluminum chloride, used either as a stoichiometric reagent or as a catalyst with gaseous hydrogen chloride, may be used to promote silane reductions of secondary alkyl alcohols that otherwise resist reduction by the action of weaker acids.136 For example, cyclohexanol is not reduced by organosilicon hydrides in the presence of trifluoroacetic acid in dichloromethane, presumably because of the relative instability and difficult formation of the secondary cyclohexyl carbocation. By contrast, treatment of cyclohexanol with an excess of hydrogen chloride gas in the presence of a three-to-four-fold excess of triethylsilane and 1.5 equivalents of aluminum chloride in anhydrous dichloromethane produces 70% of cyclohexane and 7% of methylcyclopentane after a reaction time of 3.5 hours at... 

Under certain conditions, the trifluoroacetic acid catalyzed reduction of ketones can result in reductive esterification to form the trifluoroacetate of the alcohol. These reactions are usually accompanied by the formation of side products, which can include the alcohol, alkenes resulting from dehydration, ethers, and methylene compounds from over-reduction.68,70,207,208,313,386 These mixtures may be converted into alcohol products if hydrolysis is employed as part of the reaction workup. An example is the reduction of cyclohexanone to cyclohexanol in 74% yield when treated with a two-fold excess of both trifluoroacetic acid and triethylsilane for 24 hours at 55° and followed by hydrolytic workup (Eq. 205).203... 

Pioneering studies on a different class of transfer hydrogenation catalysts were carried out by Henbest et al. in 1964 [15]. These authors reported the reduction of cyclohexanone (4) to cyclohexanol (5) in aqueous 2-propanol using chloroiridic acid (H2IrCl6) (6) as catalyst (Scheme 20.2). In the initial experiments, turnover frequencies (TOF) of 200 h 1 were reported. 

Using two types of specially synthesized rhodium-complexes (12a/12b), pyruvate is chemically hydrogenated to produce racemic lactate. Within the mixture, both a d- and L-specific lactate dehydrogenase (d-/l-LDH) are co-immobilized, which oxidize the lactate back to pyruvate while reducing NAD+ to NADH (Scheme 43.4). The reduced cofactor is then used by the producing enzyme (ADH from horse liver, HL-ADH), to reduce a ketone to an alcohol. Two examples have been examined. The first example is the reduction of cyclohexanone to cyclohexanol, which proceeded to 100% conversion after 8 days, resulting in total TONs (TTNs) of 1500 for the Rh-complexes 12 and 50 for NAD. The second example concerns the reduction of ( )-2-norbornanone to 72% endo-norbor-nanol (38% ee) and 28% exo-norbornanol (>99% ee), which was also completed in 8 days, and resulted in the same TTNs as for the first case. 

Pierre and Handel (1974) observed that cyclohexanone was cleanly reduced to cyclohexanol by LiAlH4 in diglyme solution. On addition of one equivalent (based on Li+) of the strong Li+-complexing agent [2.1.1]-cryptand, all the LiAlH4 was solubilized, but the reduction was completely inhibited. In the presence of additional amounts of either Lil or Nal, the ketone was reduced in the normal way. On the basis of these results, the authors concluded that the... 

The two-phase reduction of cyclohexanones by sodium dithionite in the presence of a stoichiometric amount of Adogen gave higher yields of the cyclohexanols than those obtained by the standard procedure using sodium dithionite in a water dioxane system (Table 11.9). A marked improvement in yield was also observed with the reduction of sterically hindered 2,6-dimethylcyclohexanone and there was a greater degree of stereoselectivity, which was comparable to that noted for the corresponding reduction with the borohydride ion [4]. 

It not tertiary, the product yield is lowered by transfer of the carbinol hydride ion to the aldehyde to produce a new alkoxide and an enolate ion. Thus, propylene oxide, after reductive cleavage with LDBB and trapping with isobutyraldehyde or p-anisaldehyde, provided 5-methyl-2,4-hexanediol in 40-50% yield or 1-p-anisyl-1,3-butanediol in 44% yield, respectively (in both cases about equal mixtures of diastereoisomers were obtained). The cyclohexene oxide-derived dianion, when trapped with isobutyraldehyde, gave 2-(1-hydroxy-2-methylpropyl)cyclohexanol in 71% yield as a mixture of only partially separable isomers in the ratio 15 11 39 35. 

The same catalyst has also been used for the reduction of aldehydes to primary alcohols [7]. Several other iridium W-heterocyclic carbene complexes have been shown to be successful as catalysts for the transfer hydrogenation of ketones [8-12], including the interesting complex 6, where the cyclopentadienyl ring is tethered to the 77-heterocyclic carbene. Complex 6 was employed at low catalyst loading for the reduction of a range of ketones including the conversion of cyclohexanone 11 into cyclohexanol 12 [13]. 

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