Reduction with lithium in deuterioammonia

In section V-A it has been pointed out that catalytic reduction of conjugated enones is usually a good method for the preparation of p- or y-labeled ketones. To overcome certain stereochemical problems, however, it is occasionally necessary to use the lithium-ammonia reduction. In this case deuteration takes place at the / -carbon and generally leads to the thermodynamically more stable product (see chapter 1). 

The reaction is usually carried out in the presence of an anhydrous cosolvent such as ether, dioxane or tetrahydrofuran, depending on the solubility of the substrate. Since the primary aim of this reaction is generally 

A pertinent example is the reduction of 5a-androst-8-en-l 1-one (154) which yields 8 -di-5a-androstan-l 1-one (155) in 93% isotopic purity. Saturation of A -6-keto steroids gives equally good results for labeling the 8/5-position.  

Deuteriums in the enolizable positions of a,/3-unsaturated keto substrates are unaffected during the course of the reduction. This extends the applicability of this procedure to the preparation of y-labeled ketones by subjecting the substrates to hydrogen-deuterium exchange (section ll-C) prior to reduction. This technique has been utilized for the preparation of the y-labeled ketones (156), (157) and (158). The deuteriums in the a-positions of these ketones are back exchanged (section 11-B) after the reduction. 

A recent modification of this technique utilizes A,A-d2-propylamine as the solvent for the lithium reduction, thereby eliminating the inconveniences associated with the preparation and handling of liquid deuterioammonia. Under these conditions the reaction can be carried out at room temperature and less overreduction of the carbonyl group is observed. For example, the reduction of A -3-keto steroids (159) under these conditions, followed by back exchange in protic media, leads to the corresponding 5a-di-3-ketones (160) which exhibit good isotopic purity.  

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A good example is the reduction of 11-keto steroids (69) which gives only the llJ -hydroxy derivatives (70) with metal deuterides. Generally, the 1 la-alcohols are obtained in good yield by reduction with lithium in liquid ammonia-methanol mixtures. By analogy, llj -dj-lla-alcohols (71) are expected when a deuterioammonia-methanol-OD system is used. (For an alternate preparation of an 11/5-dj-l la-hydroxy steroid, see section III-C). 

There are ample precedents for reductions of double bonds in conjugated enones with lithium in deuterioammonia (see section V-C). Examples of the reduction of saturated ketones in deuterated media appear only as side reactions (over reductions) during the above mentioned conversions. For experimental details, therefore, one should consult the literature for the analogous reductions in protic medium (see also chapter 1). The use of deuterioammonia is essential for labeling purposes since by using liquid ammonia and methanol-OD the resulting alcohol contains no deuterium. For the preparation of deuterioammonia see section IX-D. 

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