Reduction aromatic rings

Birch Reductions reduction of aromatic rings Organic Reactions 1976, 23, 1. Tetrahedron 1986, 42, 6354. Cornprehensice Organic Synthesis 1991, voJ. 8, 107. 

Hydrogenolysis of aryl and alkenyl halides and triflates proceeds by the treatment with various hydride sources. The reaction can be explained by the transmetallation with hydride to form palladium hydride, which undergoes reductive elimination. Several boro hydrides are used for this purpose[680], Deuteration of aromatic rings is possible by the reaction of aryl chlorides with NaBD4681]. 

Metal-ammonia-alcohol reductions of aromatic rings are known as Birch reductions, after the Australian chemist Arthur J Birch who demonstrated their usefulness begin nmg m the 1940s... 

Substituents other than alkyl groups may also be present on the aromatic ring but their reduction is beyond the scope of the present discussion... 

Because acylation of an aromatic ring can be accomplished without rearrangement it is frequently used as the first step m a procedure for the alkylation of aromatic compounds by acylation-reduction As we saw m Section 12 6 Friedel-Crafts alkylation of ben zene with primary alkyl halides normally yields products having rearranged alkyl groups as substituents When a compound of the type ArCH2R is desired a two step sequence IS used m which the first step is a Friedel-Crafts acylation... 

Friedel-Crafts acylation followed by Clemmensen or Wolff-Kishner reduction is a standard sequence used to introduce a primary alkyl group onto an aromatic ring... 

Reduction of aryl nitro compounds (Sec tion 22 9) The standard method for the preparation of an arylamine is by nitra tion of an aromatic ring followed by reduction of the nitro group Typical re ducing agents include iron or tin in hydro chloric acid or catalytic hydro genation... 

Aromatic rings in lignin may be converted to cyclohexanol derivatives by catalytic hydrogenation at high temperatures (250°C) and pressures (20—35 MPa (200—350 atm)) using copper—chromium oxide as the catalyst (11). Similar reduction of aromatic to saturated rings has been achieved using sodium in hquid ammonia as reductants (12). 

Aromatic amines can be produced by reduction of the corresponding nitro compound, the ammonolysis of an aromatic haUde or phenol, and by direct amination of the aromatic ring. At present, the catalytic reduction of nitrobenzene is the predominant process for manufacture of aniline. To a smaller extent aniline is also produced by ammonolysis of phenol. 

The chemical production of aminophenols via the reduction of nitrobenzene occurs in two stages. Nitrobenzene [98-95-3] is first selectively reduced with hydrogen in the presence of Raney copper to phenylhydroxylamine in an organic solvent such as 2-propanol (37). With the addition of dilute sulfuric acid, nucleophilic attack by water on the aromatic ring of /V-phenylhydroxylamine [100-65-2] takes place to form 2- and 4-aminophenol. The by-product, 4,4 -diaminodiphenyl ether [13174-32-8] presumably arises in a similar manner from attack on the ring by a molecule of 4-aminophenol (38,39). Aniline [62-53-3] is produced via further reduction (40,41). 

Table 2 summarizes some of the transformations of substituents which have been carried out on azetidines without effect on the ring <79CRV33l). Other transformations of interest are the base catalyzed epimerization, H exchange and alkylation of the activated H-3 in azetidines (26) (69JHC153) and the nitration, reduction, diazotization and hence further modification of the aromatic ring in 3-phenyl-fV-acetylazetidine (27) (61LA 647)83). 

An aiyl methane- or toluenesulfonate ester is stable to reduction with lithium aluminum hydride, to the acidic conditions used for nitration of an aromatic ring (HNO3/HOAC), and to the high temperatures (200-250°) of an Ullman reaction. Aiyl sulfonate esters, formed by reaction of a phenol with a sulfonyl chloride in pyridine or aqueous sodium hydroxide, are cleaved by warming in aqueous sodium hydroxide. ... 

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... 

The steroidal total synthesis intermediate (18) contains an aromatic ring of the type found in 5-methoxytetralin, a compound which undergoes Birch reduction slowly. As a consequence, compound (18) is reduced with... 

After completion of the reaction, the mixture is diluted with water, extracted with ether and the residue from the ether phase purified by chromatography and/or recrystallization. If the substrate contains aromatic protons, the reduction procedure is repeated in protic medium to back exchange deuteriums incorporated into the aromatic ring. 

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