Hydride reductions, alcohols from

Diisobutylaluminium hydride Sec. alcohols from ketones Asym. reduction... 

Another possibility for asymmetric reduction is the use of chiral complex hydrides derived from LiAlH. and chiral alcohols, e.g. N-methylephedrine (I. Jacquet, 1974), or 1,4-bis(dimethylamino)butanediol (D. Seebach, 1974). But stereoselectivities are mostly below 50%. At the present time attempts to form chiral alcohols from ketones are less successful than the asymmetric reduction of C = C double bonds via hydroboration or hydrogenation with Wilkinson type catalysts (G. Zweifel, 1963 H.B. Kagan, 1978 see p. 102f.). 

Mono MOM derivatives of diols can be prepared from the ortho esters by diiso-butylaluminum hydride reduction (46-98% yield). In general, the most hindered alcohol is protected. ... 

Butylcyclohexanol has been prepared from />-/-butylphenol by reduction under a variety of conditions.3 4 Winstein and Holness5 prepared the pure trans alcohol from the commercial alcohol by repeated crystallization of the acid phthalate followed by saponification of the pure trans ester. Eliel and Ro 6 obtained 4-f-butylcyclohexanol containing 91% of the trans isomer by lithium aluminum hydride reduction of the ketone. Iliickel and Kurz 7 reduced />-/-butylphenol with platinum oxide in acetic acid and then separated the isomers by column chromatography. 

From intermediate 28, the construction of aldehyde 8 only requires a few straightforward steps. Thus, alkylation of the newly introduced C-3 secondary hydroxyl with methyl iodide, followed by hydrogenolysis of the C-5 benzyl ether, furnishes primary alcohol ( )-29. With a free primary hydroxyl group, compound ( )-29 provides a convenient opportunity for optical resolution at this stage. Indeed, separation of the equimolar mixture of diastereo-meric urethanes (carbamates) resulting from the action of (S)-(-)-a-methylbenzylisocyanate on ( )-29, followed by lithium aluminum hydride reduction of the separated urethanes, provides both enantiomers of 29 in optically active form. Oxidation of the levorotatory alcohol (-)-29 with PCC furnishes enantiomerically pure aldehyde 8 (88 % yield). 

The homology between 22 and 21 is obviously very close. After lithium aluminum hydride reduction of the ethoxycarbonyl function in 22, oxidation of the resultant primary alcohol with PCC furnishes aldehyde 34. Subjection of 34 to sequential carbonyl addition, oxidation, and deprotection reactions then provides ketone 21 (31% overall yield from (—)-33). By virtue of its symmetry, the dextrorotatory monobenzyl ether, (/ )-(+)-33, can also be converted to compound 21, with the same absolute configuration as that derived from (S)-(-)-33, by using a synthetic route that differs only slightly from the one already described. 

Similarly, the hydride reduction of the fluorenone and anthraquinone complexes gives the corresponding secondary alcohols with endo-OH groups resulting from stereospecific attack [134], This strategy is also known in the Cr(CO)3(arene)... 

There are also reactions in which hydride is transferred from carbon. The carbon-hydrogen bond has little intrinsic tendency to act as a hydride donor, so especially favorable circumstances are required to promote this reactivity. Frequently these reactions proceed through a cyclic TS in which a new C—H bond is formed simultaneously with the C-H cleavage. Hydride transfer is facilitated by high electron density at the carbon atom. Aluminum alkoxides catalyze transfer of hydride from an alcohol to a ketone. This is generally an equilibrium process and the reaction can be driven to completion if the ketone is removed from the system, by, e.g., distillation, in a process known as the Meerwein-Pondorff-Verley reduction,189 The reverse reaction in which the ketone is used in excess is called the Oppenauer oxidation. 

With an efficient synthesis of allylic alcohol 46 in our hands, our attention turned to the selective reduction of the double bond. As stated above, we intended to use the hydroxy group in 46 to deliver hydride from the same face as the hydroxy group. Mainly there were two methods available (i) transition metal-mediated hydrogenation and (ii) metal hydride reduction. 

The 8-methyl-8,14-cycloberbine 364, derived from the protoberberine 324 via the betaine 363, was reduced with sodium borohydride or lithium aluminum tri-tert-butoxyhydride to give a diastereoisomeric mixture of cis-and trans-alcohols (7.8 1 or 1 7.8, respectively) (Scheme 64).t)n exposure to formaldehyde the mixture underwent N-hydroxymethylation and subsequent intramolecular substitution on the aziridine ring to give the oxazolidine 365. Removal of the hydroxyl group in 365 was accomplished by chlorination followed by hydrogenolysis with tributyltin hydride. Reductive opening of the oxazolidine 366 with sodium cyanoborohydride afforded ( )-raddeanamine (360), which has already been converted to ochotensimine (282) by dehydration. 

In the synthesis of methyl corydalate (55) Nonaka et al. (65) used the methiodide of (-t-)-tetrahydrocorysamine (65) as substrate and the Hofmann degradation method for ring opening (Scheme 16). The methine base (66) on hydroboration afforded alcohol 67, identical with a product obtained from 55 by lithium aluminium hydride reduction. 

Brinkmeyer and Kapoor (101) reported that the chiral hydride complex formed from LAH and (+ )-90 (Darvon alcohol) gave high enantiomeric ratios of chiral propargylic carbinols in the reduction of acetylenic ketones (Table 10, entries... 

Both older methods for the reduction of esters to alcohols, catalytic hydrogenation and reduction with sodium, have given way to reductions with hydrides and complex hydrides which have revolutionized the laboratory preparation of alcohols from esters. 

The reason why the carbonyl group in -santonin remained intact may be that, after the reduction of the less hindered double bond, the ketone was enolized by lithium amide and was thus protected from further reduction. Indeed, treatment of ethyl l-methyl-2-cyclopentanone-l-carboxylate with lithium diisopropylamide in tetrahydrofuran at — 78° enolized the ketone and prevented its reduction with lithium aluminum hydride and with diisobutyl-alane (DIBAL ). Reduction by these two reagents in tetrahydrofuran at — 78° to —40° or —78° to —20°, respectively, afforded keto alcohols from several keto esters in 46-95% yields. Ketones whose enols are unstable failed to give keto alcohols [1092]. 

Allylic acetates are usually prepared by esterification from allylic alcohols. However, the corresponding alcohols are often only accessible by the fairly expensive hydride reduction of carbonyl compounds. Consequently, direct allylic functionalization of easily available olefins has been intensively investigated. Most of these reactions involve peroxides or a variety of metal salts.However, serious drawbacks of these reactions, (e.g. toxicity of some metals, stoichiometric reaction conditions, or nongenerality) may be responsible for their infrequent use for the construction of allylic alcohols or acetates. 

Conversion of the keto ketoxime 1 to the exo-exo-amino alcohol 2 has been accomplished by hydrogenation over Adams catalyst and by reduction with lithium aluminum hydride. Amino alcohol 2 has also been prepared from 1 by a two-stage process in which selective reduction of the ketone is carried out with sodium borohydride, and the resultant hydroxy oxime is reduced with lithium aluminum hydride or by hydrogenation over Adams catalyst. ... 

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