Reductions to alcohols

Promotion by Acid. In principle, the reduction of aldehydes to alcohols and alcohol derivatives by organosilicon hydrides should occur upon exposure to either Lewis or lirwnsted acids, as represented in Eq. 2. In practice, although 

The reduction of aldehydes with the combination Et3SiH/BF3 OEt2 gives both the alcohol and the symmetrical ether,70 as do the Et3SiH/TFA (and other acids) combinations.313 Addition of boron trifluoride etherate to a mixture of 1-octanal and triethylsilane leads to the formation of di-n-octyl ether in 66% yield and //-octyl alcohol in 34% yield (Eq. 155).74 

The addition of water and a non-hydrogen-bonding solvent to the reduction medium causes the reactions to shift toward the formation of alcohol products.313 For example, triethylsilane in a mixture of concentrated hydrochloric acid and acetonitrile (5 4) reduces 1-heptanal to 1-heptanol in quantitative yield after 3 hours at room temperature. In a mixture of triethylsilane in sulfuric acid, water, and acetonitrile (2 2 5), //-hep(anal gives a 97% yield of the same alcohol after 1.25 hours (Eq. 156).313 

Triethylsilane reduces benzaldehyde to benzyl alcohol in 98% yield after 32 hours in a reaction medium containing sulfuric acid, water, and sulfolane (1 2 5) (Eq. 157). Neither benzene nor dimethylformamide is effective as an interfacing solvent for producing alcohol products under these conditions.313 

The reagent combinations PMHS/ZnCl2,315 PMHS/[Bu2(AcO)Sn]20,316 and PMHS/HCuPPh3317 all promote reduction of aldehydes to the corresponding alcohols in good yields. Trichlorosilane in dimethylformamide reduces aldehydes to alcohols in high yields.318 

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Reduction to alcohols (Section 15 2) Aide hydes are reduced to primary alcohols and ketones are reduced to secondary alcohols by a variety of reducing agents Catalytic hydrogenation over a metal catalyst and reduction with sodium borohydride or lithium aluminum hydride are general methods... 

Carboxylic Acid Group. Reactions of the carboxyl group include decarboxylation, reduction to alcohols, and the formation of salts, acyl hahdes, amides, and esters. 

By studying the NMR spectra of the products, Jensen and co-workers were able to establish that the alkylation of (the presumed) [Co (DMG)2py] in methanol by cyclohexene oxide and by various substituted cyclohexyl bromides and tosylates occurred primarily with inversion of configuration at carbon i.e., by an 8 2 mechanism. A small amount of a second isomer, which must have been formed by another minor pathway, was observed in one case (95). Both the alkylation of [Co (DMG)2py] by asymmetric epoxides 129, 142) and the reduction of epoxides to alcohols by cobalt cyanide complexes 105, 103) show preferential formation of one isomer. In addition, the ratio of ketone to alcohol obtained in the reaction of epoxides with [Co(CN)5H] increases with pH and this has been ascribed to differing reactions with the hydride (reduction to alcohol) and Co(I) (isomerization to ketone) 103) (see also Section VII,C). 

Isomerization has been observed with many a,j3-unsaturated carboxylic acids such as w-cinnamic 10), angelic, maleic, and itaconic acids (94). The possibility of catalyzing the interconversion of, for example, 2-ethyl-butadiene and 3-methylpenta-l,3-diene has not apparently been explored. The cobalt cyanide hydride will also catalyze the isomerization of epoxides to ketones (even terminal epoxides give ketones, not aldehydes) as well as their reduction to alcohols. Since the yield of ketone increases with pH, it was suggested that reduction involved reaction with the hydride [Co" (CN)jH] and isomerization reaction with [Co (CN)j] 103). A related reaction is the decomposition of 2-bromoethanol to acetaldehyde... 

Later, Araki et al. found that the allylation of aldehydes and ketones can be carried out by using catalytic amounts of indium(III) chloride in combination with aluminum or zinc metal.109 This reaction was typically performed in a THF-water (5 2) mixture at room temperature, although the conversion was much slower compared to the same reaction mediated by use of a stoichiometric amount of indium and it required days to complete. When the reaction was carried out in anhydrous THF alone, the yield dropped considerably and side-reactions such as reduction to alcohol increased. The combinations of Al-InCL or Zn-InCl3 gave comparable results. 

In the general context of donor/acceptor formulation, the carbonyl derivatives (especially ketones) are utilized as electron acceptors in a wide variety of reactions such as additions with Grignard reagents, alkyl metals, enolates (aldol condensation), hydroxide (Cannizzaro reaction), alkoxides (Meerwein-Pondorff-Verley reduction), thiolates, phenolates, etc. reduction to alcohols with lithium aluminum hydride, sodium borohydride, trialkyltin hydrides, etc. and cyloadditions with electron-rich olefins (Paterno-Buchi reaction), acetylenes, and dienes.46... 

Reduction to Alcohols. The organosilane-mediated reduction of ketones to secondary alcohols has been shown to occur under a wide variety of conditions. Only those reactions that are of high yield and of a more practical nature are mentioned here. As with aldehydes, ketones do not normally react spontaneously with organosilicon hydrides to form alcohols. The exceptional behavior of some organocobalt cluster complex carbonyl compounds was noted previously. Introduction of acids or other electrophilic species that are capable of coordination with the carbonyl oxygen enables reduction to occur by transfer of silyl hydride to the polarized carbonyl carbon (Eq. 2). This permits facile, chemoselective reduction of many ketones to alcohols. 

The reaction tolerates ketone, chloride, internal C=C bonds, esters, nitriles, and ether functional groups. Given that the DIBAL-H reduction of acid derivatives often suffers from over-reduction to alcohols, these catalytic procedures are of synthetic value for laboratory-scale syntheses. However, it is likely that the requirement for excess (tBuCO)20 will prevent this reaction from ever being used in commercial production. 

The other reactions of the aldehydes, which are extraordinarily reactive substances, need only he mentioned here. Such reactions are reduction to alcohols, formation of hydrazones, oximes, semicarbazones, bisulphite compounds, acetals and cyanohydrins (by addition of hydrogen cyanide). 

Acyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine, LYSOPHOSPHOLIPASE D Acyl halide reduction to alcohols (or aldehydes),... 

PHYSICAL ORGANIC CHEMISTRY NOMENCLATURE ALDEHYDE DEHYDROGENASE ALDEHYDE HYDRATION ALDEHYDE OXIDASE ALDEHYDE OXIDOREDUCTASE ALDOSE REDUCTASE Aldehyde reduction to alcohols, BOROHYDRIDE REDUCTION ALDOLASE Aldolase reduction,... 

Ketone reduction to alcohols, BOROHYDRIDE REDUCTION KETONIZATION... 

Also other reaction types have been dealt with in CHEC(1984) and CHEC-II(19%) like reduction to alcohols (e.g., sodium borohydride), Wolff Kishner reduction, nucleophilic addition via reaction with Grignard reagents or organo-lithium compounds, and formation of imine type functional groups (e.g., hydrazones). New examples are the reaction of... 

Reactive aldehydes and ketones can be detoxified by reduction to alcohols by aldehyde dehydrogenase. 

C. Side Reactions in Reductions 1. Over-Reduction to Alcohol... 

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