Magnesium aluminum hydride

E.C. Ashby, R.D. Schwartz, B.D. James, Concerning the preparation of magnesium aluminum hydride. A study of the reactions of lithium and sodium aluminum hydrides with magnesium halides in ether solvents , Inorg. Chem. 9 (1970) 325-332. 

Complex aluminum and boron hydrides can contain other cations. The following compounds are prepared by metathetical reactions of lithium aluminum hydride or sodium borohydride with the appropriate salts of other metals sodium aluminum hydride [55], magnesium aluminum hydride [59], lithium borohydride [90], potassium borohydride [9i], calcium borohydride [92] and tetrabutylammonium borohydride [95]. 

Direct preparation of azo compounds in good yields is accomplished by treatment of nitro compounds with lithium aluminum hydride [576], with magnesium aluminum hydride [577], with sodium bis(2-methoxy ethoxy)aluminum hydride [575], with silicon in alcoholic alkali [331] or with zinc in strongly alkaline medium [578], Hydrazobenzene was obtained by controlled hydrogenation of nitrobenzene in alkaline medium (yield 80%) [572] and by reduction with sodium bis 2-methoxyethoxy)alumium hydride (yield 37%) [544],... 

Complex hydrides can be used for the selective reduction of the carbonyl group although some of them, especially lithium aluminum hydride, may reduce the a, -conjugated double bond as well. Crotonaldehyde was converted to crotyl alcohol by reduction with lithium aluminum hydride [55], magnesium aluminum hydride [577], lithium borohydride [750], sodium boro-hydride [751], sodium trimethoxyborohydride [99], diphenylstarmane [114] and 9-borabicyclo[3,3,l]nonane [764]. A dependable way to convert a, -un-saturated aldehydes to unsaturated alcohols is the Meerwein-Ponndorf reduction [765]. 

Transformation of ketones to alcohols has been accomplished by many hydrides and complex hydrides by lithium aluminum hydride [55], by magnesium aluminum hydride [89], by lithium tris tert-butoxy)aluminum hydride [575], by dichloroalane prepared from lithium aluminum hydride and aluminum chloride [816], by lithium borohydride [750], by lithium triethylboro-hydride [100], by sodium borohydride [751,817], by sodium trimethoxyborohy-dride [99], by tetrabutylammonium borohydride [771] and cyanoborohydride [757], by chiral diisopinocampheylborane (yields 72-78%, optical purity 13-37%) [575], by dibutyl- and diphenylstannane [114], tributylstanrume [756] and others Procedure 21, p. 209). 

Esters are also reduced by sodium aluminum hydride (yields 95-97%) [<9<9] and by lithium trimethoxyaluminum hydride (2 mol per mol of the ester) [94] but not by lithium tris tert-butoxy)aluminum hydride [96], Another complex hydride, sodium bis(2-methoxyethoxy)aluminum hydride, reduces esters in benzene or toluene solutions (1.1 -1.2 mol per ester group) at 80° in 15-90 minutes in 66-98% yields [969], Magnesium aluminum hydride (in the form of its tetrakistetrahydrofuranate) reduced methyl benzoate to benzyl alcohol in 58% yield on refluxing for 2 hours in tetrahydrofuran [59]. 

Other hydrides used for the conversion of esters to alcohols are magnesium aluminum hydride in tetrahydrofuran [89, 577] and magnesium bromohydride prepared by decomposition of ethylmagnesium bromide at 235° for 2.5 hours at 0.5mm [7055]. They do not offer special advantages (the latter giving only 35% yield of benzyl alcohols from ethyl benzoate). 

High yields of amines have also been obtained by reduction of amides with an excess of magnesium aluminum hydride (yield 100%) [577], with lithium trimethoxyaluminohydride at 25° (yield 83%) [94] with sodium bis(2-methoxy-ethoxy)aluminum hydride at 80° (yield 84.5%) [544], with alane in tetra-hydrofuran at 0-25° (isolated yields 46-93%) [994, 1117], with sodium boro-hydride and triethoxyoxonium fluoroborates at room temperature (yields 81-94%) [1121], with sodium borohydride in the presence of acetic or trifluoroacetic acid on refluxing (yields 20-92.5%) [1118], with borane in tetrahydrofuran on refluxing (isolated yields 79-84%) [1119], with borane-dimethyl sulflde complex (5 mol) in tetrahydrofuran on refluxing (isolated yields 37-89%) [1064], and by electrolysis in dilute sulfuric acid at 5° using a lead cathode (yields 63-76%) [1120]. 

Reduction, An original report by a Czechoslovak group indicated that organic compounds are reduced with difficulty and in poor yields by magnesium aluminum hydride. However, James has reported recently that the reagent (suspended in ether) reduces aldehydes, ketones, acids, and oximes in high yield in a reasonable time (4 12 hr.). The reagent thus rivals lithium aluminum hydride in efficiency, but not in convenience. 

LiMg(AlH4)3 lithium magnesium aluminum hydride... 

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