Lithium aluminum hydride esters reduction

Reduction with lithium aluminum hydride (Section 15.3) Lithium aluminum hydride cleaves esters to yield two alcohols. 

Catalytic hydrogenation of 57 affords 2-phenylacetamidopropionic acid (66) or its ester by solvolytic opening of the initially formed 5(4 )-oxazolone. Lithium aluminum hydride reduction gives the... 

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. 

Analogously, for preparation of racemic carba-a-glucopyranose 49 from 52, esterification of (—)-52 furnished the ester 95, which was transformed into compound 96 by debromination with zinc dust and acetic acid. Stereoselective hydroxylation of 96 with osmium tetraoxide and hydrogen peroxide, followed by acetylation, gave compound 97. Lithium aluminum hydride reduction of 97, and acetylation of the product, gave pentaacetate 98, which was converted into 99 by hydrolysis. ... 

The products are liberated by hydrolysis of the aluminum alkoxide at the end of the reaction. Lithium aluminum hydride reduction of esters to alcohols involves an elimination step in addition to hydride transfers. 

A convenient synthesis of ( )-l has been reported by Sakai et al. (105). The condensation of tryptamine with diethyl (2-formylethyl)malonate led to lactam ester 144. Deethoxycarbonylation of 144, followed by lithium aluminum hydride reduction, gave racemic octahydroindoloquinolizine (1). 

The stereoselective total synthesis of both ( )-corynantheidine (61) (170,171) (alio stereoisomer) and ( )-dihydrocorynantheine (172) (normal stereoisomer) has been elaborated by Szdntay and co-workers. The key intermediate leading to both alkaloids was the alio cyanoacetic ester derivative 315, which was obtained from the previously prepared ketone 312 (173) by the Knoevenagel condensation accompanied by complete epimerization at C-20 and by subsequent stereoselective sodium borohydride reduction. ( )-Corynantheidine was prepared by modification of the cyanoacetate side chain esterification furnished diester 316, which underwent selective lithium aluminum hydride reduction. The resulting sodium enolate of the a-formyl ester was finally methylated to racemic corynantheidine (171). 

Similarly, lipase-catalyzed kinetic resolution has also been applied to intermediate nitrile alcohol 46 (Scheme 14.14). Best results were obtained by using immobilized Pseudomonas cepacia (PS-D) in diisopropyl ether, leading to excellent yield and enantiomeric excess of the desired (5)-alcohol 46a, along with (/J)-nitrile ester 47. Reduction of 46a with borane-dimethylsulhde complex, followed by conversion to the corresponding carbamate and subsequent lithium aluminum hydride reduction gave rise to the desired (S)-aminoalcohol intermediate 36, a known precursor of duloxetine (3). 

The iV-aminopyrrole - benzene ring methodology has been applied to a synthesis of the 9,10-dihydrophenanthrene juncusol (218) (81TL1775). Condensation of the tetralone (213) with pyrrolidine and reaction of the enamine with ethyl 3-methoxycarbonylazo-2-butenoate gave pyrrole (214). Diels-Alder reaction of (214) with methyl propiolate produced a 3 1 mixture of (215) and its isomer in 70% yield. Pure (215) was reduced selectively with DIBAL to the alcohol, reoxidized to aldehyde, and then treated with MCPBA to generate formate (216). Saponification to the phenol followed by O-methylation and lithium aluminum hydride reduction of the hindered ester afforded (217), an intermediate which had been converted previously to juncusol (Scheme 46). 

An important example of this type of reaction is the formation of esters, which was discussed previously in connection with the reactions of alcohols in Section 15-4D. Similar addition-elimination mechanisms occur in many reactions at the carbonyl groups of acid derivatives. A less obvious example of addition to carboxyl groups involves hydride ion (H 0) and takes place in lithium aluminum hydride reduction of carboxylic acids (Sections 16-4E and 18-3C). 

Attempts to synthesize C-terminal peptide aldehydes using other reductive techniques are less successful. 24"29 The reduction of a-amino acid esters with sodium amalgam and lithium aluminum hydride reduction of tosylated a-aminoacyldimethylpyrazoles resulted in poor yields. 26,29 The Rosemond reduction of TV-phthaloyl amino acid chlorides is inconvenient because the aldehyde is sensitive to hydrazine hydrate that is used to remove the phthaloyl group. 27 28 jV -Z-Protected a-aminoacylimidazoles, which are reduced to the corresponding aldehydes using lithium aluminum hydride, are extremely moisture sensitive and readily decomposed. 25 The catalytic reduction of mixed carbonic/carboxylic acid anhydrides, prepared from acylated a-amino acids, leads to poor reproducibility and low yields. 24 The major problems associated with these techniques are overreduction, racemization, and poor yields. 

Enantiospecific syntheses have utilized the chirality available in D-alanine and L-alanine. For instance, coupling and cyclization (after the necessary deprotection) of N-allyl-N-BOC-D-alanine with L-alanine methyl ester, followed by lithium aluminum hydride reduction of the diketopiperazine provided (—)-(2R,5S)-l-allyl-2,5-dimethylpiperazine (Scheme 6) [27,39], Ra-cemization was not observed during the synthesis. 

Similar to the case for its reaction with lithium aluminum hydride, an ester reacts with a Grignard or organolithium reagent to produce a ketone as the initial product. But because the ketone also reacts with the organometallic reagent, an alcohol is the final product. The mechanism for this reaction is shown in Figure 19.10. Note the similarities between this mechanism and that shown in Figure 19.7 for the reduction of an ester with lithium aluminum hydride. 

Z-Eburnamonine (XXXVI) has been produced by other reactions of vincamine. Oxidation of vincaminic acid (XL R = H) by means of ammoniacal silver nitrate was one way, and periodic acid fission of vincaminol was another (16). A different group of workers, who had probably attempted to prepare vincaminol by lithium aluminum hydride reduction of vincamine, obtained instead Z-ebumamonine in excellent yield (18). This has been rationalized as illustrated (partial formulas) by analogy with the base-induced decomposition of formic esters to carbon monoxide and alkoxide ion ... 

Nondestructive Removal of the Auxiliary. Primary alcohols are obtained by Lithium Aluminum Hydride reduction of the corresponding chiral esters. Also, hydrolysis of the auxiliary under basic conditions, 2N KOH in methanol, " provides the carboxylic acid and recovered alcohol (3). 

An approach to lactone [12] similar in concept to that just described, but not requiring a resolution, involved asymmetric Diels-Alder reaction of (benzyloxymethyl)cyclopentadiene [21] with the chiral ester of acrylic add and 8-phenylmenthoI (22), The adduct [22] was obtained in undetermined but apparently quite high e.e. Oxidation of the ester enolate of [22], followed by lithium aluminum hydride reduction, gave diol [23] as an... 

Curtin used a combination of methylene chloride and ether for the lithium aluminum hydride reduction of esters insoluble in ether. 

The product of a lithium aluminum hydride reduction of a cinnamic acid or ester 1 is highly dependent on the solvent. The product of exclusive carbonyl reduction, cinnamyl alcohol 2, was obtained in hydrocarbon solvents (pentane, hexane or benzene) even under prolonged reflux. 3-Phenylpropanol 3, resulting from carbonyl and C-C double bond reduction was produced in diethyl ether. However, phenylcyclopropane 4 was obtained in tetrahy-drofuran or 1,2-dimethoxyethane, notably after prolonged reflux. 

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