Reduction, with ammonium formate

Hydrogen gas can be replaced by ammonium formate for the reduction of nitro compounds to amines. The ammonium formate method is efficient, and the rapid workup procedure by simple filtration makes it widely used for converting the N02 to the NH2.96 For example, a-nitro esters are reduced to cx-amino esters in excellent yields on treatment with HC02NH4 and Pd/C in methanol.96... 

Catalyzed reductions with ammonium formate proceed with retention of configuration, at least for the case of nitro compounds. Treatment of steroid derivative (12) with ammonium formate in methanolic solution and a catalytic amount of palladium on charcoal gave exclusively amino steroid (13), as shown in equation (13). A similar technique has been used to produce members of the ephedrine family. 

The first of these methods was by Cook s group and involved use of an ammonium chloride matrix. An increase in molecular ion intensity was observed along with reduction in fragmentation for sugars, polypeptides, nucleotides, and vitamins. The mechanism proposed was that large clusters of ions are sputtered initially, consisting of analyte ions surrounded by matrix ions. It is the formation of these clusters that results in increased yield of protonated species (by proton transfer from the ammonium ion) and softer ionization because of relaxation processes in the clusters. 

There has been considerable debate over the linearity or otherwise of relationships between nitrate and sulfate and their respective precursor gases, NOx and sulfur dioxide. Currently, the majority of data support the idea of a more or less linear reduction in sulfate with reductions in SO2 emissions, which have been quite marked in most developed countries. Reductions in NOx, taking account of all sources, have been very much less, and in Western Europe the inorganic particles are changing from an aerosol dominated by sulfate to one dominated by nitrate. In North America, nitrate dominates the aerosol on the West Coast due to the predominant influence of road traffic emissions within this region, while on the East Coast, sulfate tends to predominate, in part due to the very low ammonia levels, which preclude the formation of substantial ammonium nitrate concentrations, leaving the nitrate in the vapor phase as nitric acid, which is subject to relatively rapid wet and dry deposition processes. 

Aldehydes and ketones may be converted into the corresponding primary amines by reduction of their oximes or hydrazones (p. 93). A method of more limited application, known as the Leuckart Reaction, consists of heating the carbonyl compound with ammonium formate, whereby the formyLamino derivative is formed, and can be readily hydrolysed by acids to the amine. Thus acetophenone gives the i-phenylethylformamide, which without isolation can be hydrolysed to i-phenylethylamine. 

Formic acid is a good reducing agent in the presence of Pd on carbon as a catalyst. Aromatic nitro compounds are reduced to aniline with formic acid[100]. Selective reduction of one nitro group in 2,4-dinitrotoluene (112) with triethylammonium formate is possible[101]. o-Nitroacetophenone (113) is first reduced to o-aminoacetophenone, then to o-ethylaniline when an excess of formate is used[102]. Ammonium and potassium formate are also used for the reduction of aliphatic and aromatic nitro compounds. Pd on carbon is a good catalyst[103,104]. NaBH4 is also used for the Pd-catalyzed reduction of nitro compounds 105]. However, the ,/)-unsaturated nitroalkene 114 is partially reduced to the oxime 115 with ammonium formate[106]... 

It is shown that both Sb(III) and Bi(III) can speed reduction of 12-molybdophosphate (12-MPC) to the corresponding heteropoly blue (12-MPB) by ascorbic acid (AA). It is found that mixed polyoxometalates can be formed in solution which reduce considerably more rapidly than 12-MPC. Complete formation of mixed POM is observed only if significant excess of Me(III) ions is used in the reaction. POM responsible for blue color was synthesized by selective extraction. Chemical analysis of tetrabutyl-ammonium salt is in accordance with formula of (TBAl PMeflllfMo O j (Me = Sb, Bi). IR spectmm of mixed POM is identical to 12-MPC. 

Ketonic carbonyl groups are commonly encountered in steroids and their reduction is facile, even in the absence of an alcohol. The lithium-ammonia reduction of androsta-l,4-diene-3,17-dione affords androst-4-ene-3,17-dione in 20% yield but concurrent reduction of the C-17 ketone results in formation of testosterone in 40% yield, even though the reduction is performed rapidly at —40 to —60° and excess lithium is destroyed with solid ammonium chloride. Similar reduction of the C-17 carbonyl group has been observed in other compounds. In the presence of an alcohol, a ketone is complete-... 

Diphenylisoinclole (29) can be prepared by a modified Leuckart reaction of o-dibenzoylbenzene (46), using an ammonium salt of formic acid the process is essentially a reductive alkylation of ammonia, accompanied by cyclization, and leads to 29 in 44% yield with ammonium formate, and 47 in 28% yield with methylammonium formate. 1,3-Diphenylisoindole. (29) can also be obtained in good yield by the reaction of 46 with 1,1-dimethylhydrazine. ... 

Reduction of the nitro group in 70 with zinc in hot sodium hydroxide results in formation of pyrrolo[2,l-(f][l,2,5]benzotriazepine 71 by intramolecular coupling of the amino group with the newly formed nitroso group (Scheme 16). If the reduction is carried out under the less rigorous conditions of zinc in aqueous ammonium chloride the intermediate hydroxy compound is formed <96T10751>. 

The Leuckart-Wallach reaction is the oldest method of reductive amination of carbonyl compounds. It makes use of formamide, formic acid or ammonium formate at high temperature. The final product is a formamide derivative, which can be converted to an amine by reduction or hydrolysis. The method has been applied to the preparation of 1,2-diamines with a norbornane framework, which are interesting rigid analogues of 1,2-diaminocyclohexanes. As a matter of fact, starting from N-acetyl-2-oxo-l-norbornylamine 222, the diamide 223 was obtained with excellent diastereoselectivity and then converted to the M-methyl-N -ethyl derivative 224 by reduction with borane [ 104] (Scheme 34). On the other hand, when the reac-... 

Mok, Y.S., Dors, M. and Mizerazcyk, J. (2004) Effect of reaction temperature on NOx removal and formation of ammonium nitrate in nonthermal plasma process combined with selective catalytic reduction, IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. 32, 799-807. 

A reductive amination/cyclization strategy was used by Surya Prakash Rao and coworkers to synthesize the annulated tricyclic compounds 10-93 [34]. These authors employed the microwave irradiation of a cis/trans- mixture of 1,5,9-triketone 10-92 with an excess of ammonium formate for 1 min in 87 % yield (Scheme 10.23). 

Taurine is generally prepared from ox bile1 or the large muscle of the abalone.2 It has been synthesized from isethionic add through chloroethanesulfonic acid followed by the action of aqueous ammonia 3 from ethyleneimine and sulfur dioxide 4 from 2-mercaptothiazoline by oxidation with bromine water 5 from bromoethylamine and ammonium sulfite 6 and from acetaldehyde by a complex set of reactions involving sulfonation, formation of the aldehyde ammonia and the imido sulfonic add and finally reduction.7 The method given in the procedure has recently appeared in the literature.8 9... 

The reduction of y-nitroketone acetals as in Eq. 6.50 with ammonium formate in the presence of Pd/C gives the corresponding amines in good yields. However, the reduction of y-nitro ketones are reduced to cyclic nitrones (Eq. 6.51).97 This reduction is far superior to the classical method using Zn/NH4C1 due to improved yield and simple workup. 

The reduction of P-nitro alcohols with ammonium formate in the presence of Pd/C also proceeds with retention of their configurations (Eq. 6.52).98... 

Reaction of phenyl vinyl ketone with cyclopentanone under thermal conditions resulted in a diastereomeric mixture of 1,5,9-triketones 374 via a double Michael reaction. Treatment of this mixture with ammonium formate in polyethyleneglycol-200 under microwave irradiation conditions led to the very fast and efficient formation of a 2 1 diastereomeric mixture of cyclopental flquinolizidines 375 and 376 <2002T2189>. When this reductive amination-cyclization procedure was carried out starting from the purified /ra r-isomer of 374, the result was identical to that obtained from the cis-trans mixture, showing the operation of thermodynamic control (Scheme 86). 

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