Lithium-ammonia reduction aromatic rings

The styrene double bond in 9(ll)-dehydroestradiol 3-methyI ether (1) or its 8-dehydro counterpart is reduced by potassium or lithium in ammonia without affecting the aromatic ring estradiol 3-methyl ether (2) is formed from both compounds. Reduction of the corresponding 17-ketones occurs with partial or complete reduction of the carbonyl group. Lithium... 

Reduction of aromatic rings with lithium or calcium " in amines (instead of ammonia—called Benkeser reduction) proceeds further and cyclohexenes are obtained. It is thus possible to reduce a benzene ring, by proper choice of reagent, so that one, two, or all three double bonds are reduced. Lithium triethylborohy-dride (LiBEtsH) has also been used, to reduce pyridine derivatives to piperidine derivatives." ... 

Dissolving-Metal Reduction of Aromatic Compounds and Alkynes. Dissolving-metal systems constitute the most general method for partial reduction of aromatic rings. The reaction is called the Birch reduction,214 and the usual reducing medium is lithium or sodium in liquid ammonia. An alcohol is usually added to serve as a proton source. The reaction occurs by two successive electron transfer/proto-nation steps. 

A solution of lithium, sodium, potassium or calcium in liquid ammonia can reduce a wide variety of unsaturated groups. Thus when aromatic rings are reduced by such metals in liquid ammonia, non-conjugated cyclohexadienes are produced. The reaction is called Birch reduction. 

At the outset of our studies of the reactivity of I and II, it was necessary to investigate claims that tertiary henzamides were inappropriate substrates for the Birch reduction. It had been reported that reduction of A,A-dimethylbenzamide with sodium in NH3 in the presence of tert-butyl alcohol gave benzaldehyde and a benzaldehyde-ammonia adduct. We formd that the competition between reduction of the amide group and the aromatic ring was strongly dependent on reaction variables, such as the alkali metal (type and quantity), the availability of a proton source more acidic than NH3, and reaction temperature. Reduction with potassium in NH3-THF solution at —78 °C in the presence of 1 equiv. of tert-butyl alcohol gave the cyclohexa-1,4-diene 2 in 92% isolated yield (Scheme 3). At the other extreme, reduction with lithium in NH3-THF at —33 °C in the absence of tert-butyl alcohol gave benzaldehyde and benzyl alcohol as major reaction products. ... 

Zirconium(IV) isopropoxide, 352 Reductive alkylation of aromatic rings Birch reduction, 32 (S)-Prolinol, 261 of carbonyl groups Trityl perchlorate, 339 of other substrates Lithium-Ammonia, 158 Reductive cleavage (see also Reduction of epoxides)... 

Birch reduction11 is the partial reduction of aromatic rings by solvated electrons produced when alkali metals dissolve (and react) in liquid amines. Typical conditions are sodium in liquid ammonia or lithium in methylamine. These electrons add to benzene rings to produce, probably, a dianion 57 that is immediately protonated by a weak acid (usually a tertiary alcohol) present in solution. The anions in the supposed intermediate 57 keep as far from each other as they can so the final product is the non-conjugated diene 58. It is important to use the blue solution of solvated electrons before it reacts to give hydrogen and NaNH2. 

A common illicit synthesis of methamphetamine involves an interesting variation of the Birch reduction. A solution of ephedrine in alcohol is added to liquid ammonia, followed by several pieces of lithium metal. The Birch reduction usually reduces the aromatic ring (Section 17-14C), but in this case it eliminates the hydroxyl group of ephedrine to give methamphetamine. Propose a mechanism, similar to that for the Birch reduction, to explain this unusual course of the reaction. 

Na, or Li in liquid ammonia, for example) to reduce aromatic rings and alkynes. The dissolving metal reduction of enones by lithium metal in liquid ammonia is similar to these reactions—the C=C bond of the enone is reduced, with the C=0 bond remaining untouched. An alcohol is required as a proton source and, in total, two electrons and two protons are added in a stepwise manner giving net addition of a molecule of hydrogen to the double bond. 

The loss of resonance energy involved in the reduction of an aromatic ring makes this a difficult process. If the reaction is carried out using hydrogen and a catalyst, high pressure and temperature are required. However, reduction can be achieved by the stepwise addition of electrons using sodium or lithium in liquid ammonia, followed by protonation from an alcohol. This reaction, which has had wide application in the laboratory, is known as the Birch reduction. It is commonly used... 

The total synthesis of galbulimima alkaloid GB 13 was accomplished by L.N. Mander and co-workers. The Birch reduction of a complex intermediate was necessary in order to prepare a cyclic a,p-unsaturated ketone. The treatment of the substrate with lithium metal in liquid ammonia first resulted in a quantitative reductive decyanation of the C6a cyano group. The addition of excess ethanol to the reaction mixture reduced the aromatic ring to the corresponding enol ether that was hydrolyzed in a subsequent step to afford the unsaturated ketone. 

The Birch reduction is the organic reduction of aromatic rings by sodium in liquid ammonia invented by Arthur Birch. The reaction product is a 1,4-cyclohexadiene. The metal can also be lithium or potassium and the hydrogen atoms are supplied by an alcohol such as ethanol or tertbutanol. Sodium in liquid ammonia gives an intense blue color. 

Although one successful synthesis of equilin from equilenin methyl ether has been reported, Birch reductions of such substrates are non-selective, since reduction of both aromatic rings occurs. Use of the free phenol in such reductions, however, has neatly overcome these difficulties. Formation of the naphthoxide ion prior to Birch reduction with lithium-ammonia at — 70 °C has resulted in high yields of equilin. Surprisingly, further reduction of equilin 17-dimethylketal... 

The Birch reduction comprises a means for adding two hydrogen atoms to an aromatic ring by means of a metal, most often lithium, and an alcohol in liquid ammonia as solvent. A co-solvent, often tetrahydrofuran (THF), is often added due to the very poor solubility of steroids in ammonia. The use of the more expensive sodium was at one time precluded because traces of iron in that metal catalyzed the conversion of the metal to the strong base sodium amide. Very pure sodium, free of iron impurities, is now used for commercial-scale reductions. 

Another imaginative approach (Scheme 2) started with the protoberberine system (127). Reduction of the trimethoxy-compound (127 R = Me) with lithium and liquid ammonia gave the enol ether (128), and conditions could not be found for the selective reduction of only the monomethoxylated aromatic ring. However, the reduction of the benzyl ether (127 R = CHzPh), followed by methylation of the product, gave the enol ether (129), which could be hydrolysed to the a/3-unsaturated ketone (130). This ketone was also found to be obtainable in good yield from the enol ether (128) by selective aromatization by N-chlorosuccinimide in methylene chloride, hydrolysis (presumably by water in the... 

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