Reduction reagents for

Synthesis methodology is expanded to cover a range of new reagents, including oxidants and reductants reagents for asymmetric synthesis and those derived from lithium, boron, silicon, phosphorus and sulphur. 

Reactions with reductively and oxidatively generated [26] perfluoroalkyl radicals have also been successfully used for perfluoroalkylation of aromatic compounds (Scheme 2.103). For the reductive initiation, the single electron transfer (SET) necessary for formation of the radical anion priming the reaction sequence can be provided either by a reductive reagent (for example HOCH2SO2Na) [27] or by an electron-rich aromatic substrate itself [28]. The oxidatively induced variant enables the perfluoroalkylation of more electron-deficient aromatic substrates, for example quinoline. 

Lithium aluminium hydride LiAlH is a useful and conveuient reagent for the selective reduction of the carbonyl group and of various other polar functional groups. It is obtained by treatment of finely powdered lithium hydride with an ethereal solution of anhydrous aluminium chloride ... 

Functional group selectivity is often easy to achieve in reduction and condensation reactions since several highly selective reagents for reduction and for protection offunctional groups are available. 

Sodium cyanoborohydride has become important in biochemical appHcations that require hydrolytic stabiHty of the reducing agent and chemoselectivity, in sensitive molecules. It is also a preferred reagent for oxime reductions. 

Reactions. Although lithium aluminum hydride is best known as a nucleophilic reagent for organic reductions, it converts many metal haUdes to the corresponding hydride, eg, Ge, As, Sn, Sb, and Si (45). 

Nitrates. Iron(II) nitrate hexahydrate [14013-86-6], Fe(N03)2 6H20, is a green crystalline material prepared by dissolving iron in cold nitric acid that has a specific gravity of less than 1.034 g/cm. Use of denser, more concentrated acid leads to oxidation to iron(III). An alternative method of preparation is the reaction of iron(II) sulfate and barium or lead nitrate. The compound is very soluble in water. Crystallisation at temperatures below — 12°C affords an nonahydrate. Iron(II) nitrate is a useful reagent for the synthesis of other iron-containing compounds and is used as a catalyst for reduction reactions. 

THE SOLID-PHASE REAGENTS FOR THE DETERMINATION OF PHOSPHORUS AND ORGANIC REDUCTANTS... 

Heteropolyacids (HPA) are the unique class of inorganic complexes. They are widely used in different areas of science in biochemistry for the precipitation of albumens and alkaloids, in medicine as anticarcinogenic agents, in industry as catalysts. HPA are well known analytical reagents for determination of phosphoms, silica and arsenic, nitrogen-containing organic compounds, oxidants and reductants in solution etc. 

The Npys group can be. cleaved reductively with BU3P, H2O or mercaptoethanol. It is stable to CF3COOH (24 h), 4 M HCl/dioxane (24 h), and HF (1 h). The related reagent, 2-pyridinesulfenyl chloride, has also been proposed as a useful reagent for the deprotection of the 5-trityl, 5-diphenylmethyl, 5-acetamidomethyl, 5-/-butyl, and S-r-butylsulfenyl groups, but this reagent is very susceptible to hydrolysis. ... 

The isotopic purity of the products from a lithium aluminum deuteride reduction is usually equivalent to that of the reagent. The presence of moisture has little effect on the isotope composition of the products, causing only the decomposition of some of the reagent. For the best results, however, it is advisable to distill the solvent— usually ether, tetrahydrofuran or dioxane depending on the desired reaction temperature—from lithium aluminum hydride directly into the reaction flask. In this manner the reduction of 3-keto-5a-steroids (60), for example, gives the corresponding 3a-di alcohols (61) in 98% isotopic purity. ... 

Other zinc reductions have been used extensively. Zinc dust in aqueous ammonium chloride is a standard reagent for the reductive cyclization of nitro esters to hydroxamic acids. These reactions are usually carried out at low temperatures (0°-10°) to avoid further reduction. Despite the fact that good yields can often be obtained, these reductions are highly capricious, depending on the quality of the zinc (impurities seem to improve the reaction) and other unknown factors. 

Besides simple alkyl-substituted sulfoxides, (a-chloroalkyl)sulfoxides have been used as reagents for diastereoselective addition reactions. Thus, a synthesis of enantiomerically pure 2-hydroxy carboxylates is based on the addition of (-)-l-[(l-chlorobutyl)sulfinyl]-4-methyl-benzene (10) to aldehydes433. The sulfoxide, optically pure with respect to the sulfoxide chirality but a mixture of diastereomers with respect to the a-sulfinyl carbon, can be readily deprotonated at — 55 °C. Subsequent addition to aldehydes afforded a mixture of the diastereomers 11A and 11B. Although the diastereoselectivity of the addition reaction is very low, the diastereomers are easily separated by flash chromatography. Thermal elimination of the sulfinyl group in refluxing xylene cleanly afforded the vinyl chlorides 12 A/12B in high chemical yield as a mixture of E- and Z-isomers. After ozonolysis in ethanol, followed by reductive workup, enantiomerically pure ethyl a-hydroxycarboxylates were obtained. 

Enantiomerically pure alkylboranes arc known to be excellent reagents for asymmetric reduction but they can also be used to generate enantiomerically pure /V-borylimines by partial reduction of nitriles. Addition of organolithium and Grignard reagents to these compounds affords secondary carbinamines in moderate to good yield but low enantioselectivity13,14. The best results reported so far are shown below. 

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