Reduction reactions carbonyl compounds

Two classes of charged radicals derived from ketones have been well studied. Ketyls are radical anions formed by one-electron reduction of carbonyl compounds. The formation of the benzophenone radical anion by reduction with sodium metal is an example. This radical anion is deep blue in color and is veiy reactive toward both oxygen and protons. Many detailed studies on the structure and spectral properties of this and related radical anions have been carried out. A common chemical reaction of the ketyl radicals is coupling to form a diamagnetic dianion. This occurs reversibly for simple aromatic ketyls. The dimerization is promoted by protonation of one or both of the ketyls because the electrostatic repulsion is then removed. The coupling process leads to reductive dimerization of carbonyl compounds, a reaction that will be discussed in detail in Section 5.5.3 of Part B. 

Clemmensen reaction is the reduction of carbonyl compounds with amalgamated zinc and concentrated hydrochloric acid... 

As with the reduction of carbonyl compounds discussed in the previous section, we ll defer a detailed treatment of the mechanism of Grignard reactions until Chapter 19. For the moment, it s sufficient to note that Grignard reagents act as nucleophilic carbon anions, or carbanions ( R ), and that the addition of a Grignard reagent to a carbonyl compound is analogous to the addition of hydride ion. The intermediate is an alkoxide ion, which is protonated by addition of F O"1 in a second step. 

Perhaps the most valuable reaction of alcohols is their oxidation to yield car-bony compounds—the opposite of the reduction of carbonyl compounds to yield alcohols. Primary alcohols yield aldehydes or carboxylic acids, secondary alcohols yield ketones, but tertiary alcohols don t normally react with most oxidizing agents. 

The reduction of carbonyl compounds by reaction with hydride reagents (H -) and the Grignard addition by reaction with organomagnesium halides (R - +MgBr) are examples of nucleophilic carbonyl addition reactions. What analogous product do you think might result from reaction of cyanide ion with a ketone ... 

Rhin(bpy)3]3+ and its derivatives are able to reduce selectively NAD+ to 1,4-NADH in aqueous buffer.48-50 It is likely that a rhodium-hydride intermediate, e.g., [Rhni(bpy)2(H20)(H)]2+, acts as a hydride transfer agent in this catalytic process. This system has been coupled internally to the enzymatic reduction of carbonyl compounds using an alcohol dehydrogenase (HLADH) as an NADH-dependent enzyme (Scheme 4). The [Rhin(bpy)3]3+ derivative containing 2,2 -bipyridine-5-sulfonic acid as ligand gave the best results in terms of turnover number (46 turnovers for the metal catalyst, 101 for the cofactor), but was handicapped by slow reaction kinetics, with a maximum of five turnovers per day.50... 

Tributyltin hydride reduction of carbonyl compounds. The reduction of carbonyl compounds with metal hydrides can also proceed via an electron-transfer activation in analogy to the metal hydride insertion into TCNE.188 Such a notion is further supported by the following observations (a) the reaction rates are enhanced by light as well as heat 189 (b) the rate of the reduction depends strongly on the reduction potentials of ketones. For example, trifluoroacetophenone ( re<1 = —1.38 V versus SCE) is quantitatively reduced by Bu3SnH in propionitrile within 5 min, whereas the reduction of cyclohexanone (Erea — 2.4 V versus SCE) to cyclohexanol (under identical... 

The reduction of carbonyl compounds is most often better achieved by electrochemical methods or by using conventional hydride or hydrogenation reactions. Nevertheless the formation of benzpinacol from benzophenone, although now known for more than eighty years, is still a matter of study (4.16) 418>. 

Solid lithium aluminium hydride can be solublized in non-polar organic solvents with benzyltriethylammonium chloride. Initially, the catalytic effect of the lithium cation in the reduction of carbonyl compounds was emphasized [l-3], but this has since been refuted. A more recent evaluation of the use of quaternary ammonium aluminium hydrides shows that the purity of the lithium aluminium hydride and the dryness of the solvent are critical, but it has also been noted that trace amounts of water in the solid liquid system are beneficial to the reaction [4]. The quaternary ammonium aluminium hydrides have greater hydrolytic stability than the lithium salt the tetramethylammonium aluminium hydride is hydrolysed slowly in dilute aqueous acid and more lipophilic ammonium salts are more stable [4, 5]. 

The control of enantioselectivity in the reduction of carbonyl compounds provides an opportunity for obtaining the product alcohols in an enantiomerically enriched form. For transfer hydrogenation, such reactions have been dominated by the use of enantiomerically pure ruthenium complexes [33, 34], although Pfaltz and coworkers had shown by 1991 that high levels of enantioselectivity could be obtained using iridium(I) bis-oxazoline complexes [35]. 

Allylic acetates are usually prepared by esterification from allylic alcohols. However, the corresponding alcohols are often only accessible by the fairly expensive hydride reduction of carbonyl compounds. Consequently, direct allylic functionalization of easily available olefins has been intensively investigated. Most of these reactions involve peroxides or a variety of metal salts.However, serious drawbacks of these reactions, (e.g. toxicity of some metals, stoichiometric reaction conditions, or nongenerality) may be responsible for their infrequent use for the construction of allylic alcohols or acetates. 

Enolization is an acid-base reaction (2-24) in which a proton is transferred from the a carbon to the Grignard reagent. The carbonyl compound is converted to its enolate ion form, which, on hydrolysis, gives the original ketone or aldehyde. Enolization is important not only for hindered ketones but also for those that have a relatively high percentage of enol form, e.g., p-keto esters, etc. In reduction, the carbonyl compound is reduced to an alcohol (6-25)... 

The catalytic effect of metal ions such as Mg2+ and Zn2+ on the reduction of carbonyl compounds has extensively been studied in connection with the involvement of metal ions in the oxidation-reduction reactions of nicotinamide coenzymes [144-149]. Acceleration effects of Mg2+ on hydride transfer from NADH model compounds to carbonyl compounds have been shown to be ascribed to the catalysis on the initial electron transfer process, which is the rate-determining step of the overall hydride transfer reactions [16,87,149]. The Mg2+ ion has also been shown to accelerate electron transfer from cis-dialkylcobalt(III) complexes to p-ben-zoquinone derivatives [150,151]. In this context, a remarkable catalytic effect of Mg2+ was also found on photoinduced electron transfer reactions from various electron donors to flavin analogs in 1984 [152], The Mg2+ (or Zn2+) ion forms complexes with a flavin analog la and 5-deazaflavins 2a-c with a 1 1 stoichiometry in dry MeCN at 298 K [153] ... 

Reduction of carbonyl compounds.2 The reagent reduces aromatic and aliphatic ketones, aldehydes, and acid chlorides to alcohols in moderate to excellent yield in chloroform solution. The order of substrate reactivity is RCOCl>RCHO>R2CO. Only three of the eight hydrogens are transferred under the reaction conditions. 

Addition of hydrosilane to alkenes, dienes and alkynes is called hydrosilylation, or hydrosilation, and is a commercially important process for the production of many organosilicon compounds. As related reactions, silylformylation of alkynes is treated in Section 7.1.2, and the reduction of carbonyl compounds to alcohols by hydrosilylation is treated in Section 10.2. Compared with other hydrometallations discussed so far, hydrosilylation is sluggish and proceeds satisfactorily only in the presence of catalysts [214], Chloroplatinic acid is the most active catalyst and the hydrosilylation of alkenes catalysed by E PtCU is operated commercially [215]. Colloidal Pt is said to be an active catalytic species. Even the internal alkenes 558 can be hydrosilylated in the presence of a Pt catalyst with concomitant isomerization of the double bond from an internal to a terminal position to give terminal silylalkanes 559. The oxidative addition of hydrosilane to form R Si—Pt—H 560 is the first step of the hydrosilylation, and insertion of alkenes to the Pt—H bond gives 561, and the alkylsilane 562 is obtained by reductive elimination. 

This reaction has been applied both to synthesis and as a mechanistic criterion for the intermediacy of anions, e.g., in the reduction of carbonyl compounds in aprotic solvents. Electrolysis of benzophenone in the presence of ethyl bromide yields diphenylethylcarbinol (41, Eq. (106) ) 2511. When anthraquinone... 

One of the reactions involving hydride transfer, which has synthetic importance in solution chemistry, is the Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley reduction of carbonyl compounds by hydride transfer from alkoxide ions. Similarly, it has been found possible to reduce formaldehyde, benzaldehyde, 2,2-dimethylpropanal and 1-adamantylcarboxaldehyde with methoxide ions in the gas phase (Ingemann el al., 1982b). The reaction trajectory of the hydride transfer from the methoxide ion to formaldehyde has also been studied by ab initio calculations (Sheldon et al., 1984b). 

Figure 3.27 shows reaction equations and the energy relationships of the hydroboration of enantiomerically pure a-pinene with 9-BBN. The reagent approaches only the side of the C=C double bond that lies opposite the isopropylidene bridge. The addition is thus completely diastereoselective. Moreover, the trialkylborane obtained is a pure enantiomer, since the starting material is a pure enantiomer. It is used as Alpine-Borane for the enantioselec-tive reduction of carbonyl compounds (Section 10.4). 

Dichloroindium hydride (Cl2InH), generated by the reaction of InCl3 with tributyltin hydride, is also successfully used for the reduction of carbonyl compounds and for the debromination of alkyl bromides.366 This reductant has features such as the chemoselective reduction of functionalized benzaldehydes, chelation-controlled reduction of benzoin methyl ether, and 1,4-reduction of chalcone. The stable carbene and tertiary phosphine adducts of indium trihydride, InH3 CN(Mes)CH=CHN(Mes) and InH3 P(c-G6H11)3, reduce ketones to alcohols (Equation (90)).367... 

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