Lithium cyanoborohydride, reduction

Lithium cyanoborohydride reduces oximes to hydroxylamines in good yield. Careful pH control is not necessary in this case and reduction can be done efficiently in the presence of acetic acid at pH 5 . Lithium borohydride reduces oximes as well. Sodium borohydride in acetic acid or on silica gel has been used for reduction of oximes, but reported yields were low to moderate only. Lithium aluminum hydride " and DIBAL are capable of reducing oximes, but are sufficiently chemoselective for reduction of polyfunctional oximes. 

As well as ebumamine (282), the -oxide of 1,2-dehydroaspidosper-midine (281) gave a new product on reaction with triphenylphosphine and acetic acid (167). The compound showed a molecular ion at m/e 296 analyzing for C19H24N2O. The UV spectrum was that of an -acylindoline and the IR spectrum indicated a lactam (rmax 1680 cm-1). The product was unaffected by catalytic hydrogenation or by sodium cyanoborohydride reduction. In aqueous hydrochloric acid for 2 hr at 90°, the product was transformed into an -acylindole which was assigned structure 291. The parent compound for these transformations was therefore 292. Lithium aluminum hydride reduction of 292 gave the diamine 293, which afforded the indole 294 on treatment with acid. 

The reducing agents employed include hydrogen and a catalyst (such as nickel) or NaBHsCN or LiBHsCN (sodium or lithium cyanoborohydride). The latter two reducing agents are similar to NaBH4 and are especially effective in reductive aminations. Three specific examples of reductive amination foUow ... 

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. 

The double bond in indole and its homologs and derivatives is reduced easily and selectively by catalytic hydrogenation over platinum oxide in ethanol and fluoroboric acid [456], by sodium borohydride [457], by sodium cyanoborohydride [457], by borane [458,459], by sodium in ammonia [460], by lithium [461] and by zinc [462]. Reduction with sodium borohydride in acetic acid can result in alkylation on nitrogen giving JV-ethylindoline [457]. 

Chemical reduction of aromatic aldehydes to alcohols was accomplished with lithium aluminum hydride [5i], alane [770], lithium borohydride [750], sodium borohydride [757], sodium trimethoxyborohydride [99], tetrabutylam-monium borohydride [777], tetrabutylammonium cyanoborohydride [757], B-3-pinanyl-9-borabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane [709], tributylstannane [756], diphenylstan-nane [114], sodium dithionite [262], isopropyl alcohol [755], formaldehyde (crossed Cannizzaro reaction) [i7i] and others. 

Reduction of unsaturated ketones to unsaturated alcohols is best carried out Nit v complex hydrides. a,/3-Unsaturated ketones may suifer reduction even at the conjugated double bond [764, 879]. Usually only the carbonyl group is reduced, especially if the inverse technique is applied. Such reductions are accomplished in high yields with lithium aluminum hydride [879, 880, 881, 882], with lithium trimethoxyaluminum hydride [764], with alane [879], with diisobutylalane [883], with lithium butylborohydride [884], with sodium boro-hydride [75/], with sodium cyanoborohydride [780, 885] with 9-borabicyclo [3.3.1]nonane (9-BBN) [764] and with isopropyl alcohol and aluminum isopro-... 

Hydrazones treated with alkalis decompose to nitrogen and hydrocarbons [845, 923] Woljf-Kizhner reduction) (p. 34), and p-toluenesulfonylhydra-zones are reduced to hydrocarbons by lithium aluminum hydride [812], sodium borohydride [785] or sodium cyanoborohydride [813]. Titanium trichloride hy-drogenolyzes the nitrogen-nitrogen bond in phenylhydrazones and forms amines and ketimines which are hydrolyzed to the parent ketones. Thus 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone of cycloheptanone afforded cycloheptanone in 90% yield [202]. 

Thioamides were converted to aldehydes by cautious desulfurization with Raney nickel [1137, 1138] or by treatment with iron and acetic acid [172]. More intensive desulfurization with Raney nickel [1139], electroreduction [172], and reduction with lithium aluminum hydride [1138], with sodium borohydride [1140] or with sodium cyanoborohydride [1140] gave amines in good to excellent yields. 

Reduction of 3-aryl-4-oxo-4//-pyrido[2,l-fl]phthalazine-l-carboxamides with sodium cyanoborohydride in acidified methanol or lithium borohy-dride in tetrahydrofuran afforded 6,7-dihydro derivatives 47 (R = H) (88EUP294599). 

EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY There are about twenty different synthetic routes in the literature for the preparation of MDA. Many start with piperonal, and employ it to make methylenedioxyphenylacetone or a mcthylcnedioxydihydro-cinnamic acid amide instead of the nitrostyrene. The phenylacetone can be reduced in several ways other than the cyanoborohydride method mentioned here, and the amide can be rearranged directly to MDA. And there are additional methods for the reduction of the nitrostyrene that use no lithium aluminum hydride. Also there are procedures that have safrole or isosafrole as starting points. There is even one in the underground literature that starts with sassafras root bark. In fact, it is because safrole is one of the ten essential oils that MDA can humorously be referred to as one of the Ten Essential Amphetamines. See the comments under TMA. 

In other reports, /i-cyclodcxtrins have been used to induce asymmetry in borohydride reduction of ketones,166 a diastereoselective reduction has been controlled167 by a real lyltricarbonyl iron lactone tether , a phosphinamide has been combined with a dioxaborolidine unit as an activated, directed catalyst for ketone reduction,168 reductive amination using benzylamine-cyanoborohydride converts 3-hydroxy ketones into syn-1,3-amino alcohols,169 l-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-2-(2-methoxyphenoxy)propan-l-one has been reduced diastereoselectively,170 and production of chiral alcohols via (i) Itsuno-Corey and Brown procedures171 and (ii) lithium aluminium hydride modified by chiral nucleophiles172 has been reviewed. 

This rationalization indicates that internal delivery of a hydride is not a requisite for the observed stereospecificity. Reduction of the oxonium ion with an external hydride reagent should also give equatorially oriented bicyclic ether only. Accordingly (112), reduction of tricyclic spiroketal 145 with sodium cyanoborohydride at pH =3-4 yields only the equatorial bicyclic ether alcohol (J47, CHO=CH2OH). Eliel and co-workers (113) have previously suggested that the orientation of the electron pairs of oxygen atoms influence the course of the reduction of 2-alkoxytetrahydropyran with lithium aluminium hydride-aluminium trichloride. 

This method is superior to the reduction of quinazolin-4-ones to 3,4-dihydroquinazolines with lithium aluminum hydride.Similarly, compounds 8 (R, as above), which are resistant to both methods, are reduced to, V-dialkyl-3,4-dihydroquinazolin-2-amines 9 by first being converted in situ to their imino chlorides on treatment with phosphoryl chloride, followed immediately by reduction with sodium cyanoborohydride." ... 

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