Metal hydrides, synthesis

Figure 2.29 Metal hydride synthesis (a) employing borohydride reagents, (b) via tetrahydroborate ligands and (c) via formyl intermediates...

Although a few simple hydrides were known before the twentieth century, the field of hydride chemistry did not become active until around the time of World War II. Commerce in hydrides began in 1937 when Metal Hydrides Inc. used calcium hydride [7789-78-8J, CaH2, to produce transition-metal powders. After World War II, lithium aluminum hydride [16853-85-3] LiAlH, and sodium borohydride [16940-66-2] NaBH, gained rapid acceptance in organic synthesis. Commercial appHcations of hydrides have continued to grow, such that hydrides have become important industrial chemicals manufactured and used on a large scale. 

Preparation of the aldehyde required for the synthesis of cyclothiazide (182) starts by carbonation of the Grignard reagent obtained from the Diels-Alder adduct (186) from allyl bromide and cyclopentadiene.The resulting acid (187) is then converted to the aldehyde (189) by reduction of the corresponding diethyl amide (188) with a metal hydride. 

For a review, see Hudlicky, M. Reductions in Organic Chemistry Ellis Horwood Chichester, 1984, p. 96. For a list of reagents, with references, see Ref. 58, p. 527. For books on metal hydrides, see Abdel-Magid, A.F. (Ed.) Reductions in Organic Synthesis, Amer. Chem. Soc., Washington, 1996 Seyden-Renne, J. Reductions by the... 

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. 

G. J. Brendel, and H.E. Redman Direct Synthesis of Complex Metal Hydrides. Inorg. Chem. 2, 499 (1963). 

The reduction of a-hydroxynitriles to yield vicinal amino alcohols is conveniently accomplished with complex metal hydrides for example, lithium aluminum hydride or sodium borohydride [69]. However, it is still worth noting that a two-step chemo-enzymatic synthesis of (R)-2-amino-l-(2-furyl)ethanol for laboratory production was developed followed by successful up-scaling to kilogram scale using NaBH4/CF3COOH as reductant [70],... 

However, since the goal of this work was the synthesis of alcohols from olefins via hydrohydroxymethylation (75, 76), little attention was given to developing a shift-catalyst per se. Pettit has recently reexamined some of this work and shown that, by careful control of the pH of the reaction mixture, systems based on either Fe(CO)5 or Cr(CO)6 can be developed for the production of either formic acid or methanol from carbon monoxide and water (77, 78). Each of these latter systems involves the formation of metal hydride complexes consequently, molecular hydrogen is also produced according to the shift reaction [Eq. (16)]. 

The synthesis of alkali metal organophosphides and arsenides is usually most conveniently achieved by the direct metalation of a primary or secondary phosphine/arsine with a strong deprotonating agent such as an alkyllithium or an alkali metal hydride ... 

Strong bases such as alkali metal hydrides deprotonate B5H9 at —78 °C in ether solution to the octahydropentaborate(l—) which not only is a strong base but also an important reagent for the synthesis of derivatives [52]. The anion itself is not... 

Phase-transfer catalytic conditions provide an extremely powerful alternative to the use of alkali metal hydrides for the synthesis of cyclopropanes via the reaction of dimethyloxosulphonium methylides with electron-deficient alkenes [e.g. 54-56] reaction rates are increased ca. 20-fold, while retaining high yields (86-95%). Dimethylphenacylsulphonium bromide reacts in an analogous manner with vinyl-sulphones [57] and with chalcones [58] and trimethylsulphonium iodide reacts with Schiff bases and hydrazones producing aziridines [59]. 

In less repetitive syntheses, it is possible to use remote functional groups as "control elements", a technique which depends more upon the opportunist tactics developed in the course of a synthesis rather than of a premeditated strategy. Such is the case, for instance, of the synthesis of strychnine (i) by Woodward [2], in which after synthesising the intermediate 2 a hydrogen at C(8) must be introduced onto the P-face (4), i.e., onto the most hindered concave face of the molecule (Scheme 8.1). Usually the reduction with a metal hydride would lead to the a-C(8)-H isomer (i.e., the hydride ion will atack from the less hindered face of the molecule), however in the present case the P-OH group at C(21) acts as a control element and, besides the reduction of the amide at C(20), a hydride ion attacks at C(8) from the P-face by an intramolecular transfer of the complex C(21)-0-Al-H (3). 

In connection with the synthetic work directed towards the total synthesis of polyene macrolide antibiotics -such as amphotericin B (i)- Sharpless and Masamune [1] on one hand, and Nicolaou and Uenishi on the other [2], have developed alternative methods for the enantioselective synthesis of 1,3-diols and, in general, 1, 3, 5...(2n + 1) polyols. One of these methods is based on the Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols [3] and regioselective reductive ring opening of epoxides by metal hydrides, such as Red-Al and DIBAL. The second method uses available monosaccharides from the "chiral pool" [4], such as D-glucose. 

Direct synthesis from the metal, boron and hydrogen at 825-975 K and 30-150 bar Hj has yielded the lithium salt, and such a method is generally applicable to groups lA and llA metals (Goerrig, 1958). The reaction involving either the metal or the metal hydride, or the metal together with triethylborane in an inert hydrocarbon has formed the basis of a patent. 

Zaluski, L., Zaluska, A., Strom-Olsen, J.O. 1999. Hydrogenation properties of complex alkali metal hydrides fabricated by mechano-chemical synthesis. J Alloys Comp 290 71-78. 

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