Sodium amalgam unsaturated carbonyl compounds

Before the introduction of metal-ammonia solutions for the reduction of a,p-unsaturated carbonyl compounds,sodium, sodium amalgam, or zinc in protic media were most commonly employed for this purpose. Some early examples of their use include the conversion of carvone to dihydrocarvone with zinc in acid or alkaline medium, and of cholest-4-en-3-one to cholestanone with sodium in alcohol. These earlier methods are complicated by a variety of side reactions, such as over-reduction, dimerization, skeletal rearrangements, acid- or base-catalyzed isomerizations and aldol condensations, most of which can be significantly minimized by metal-ammonia reduction. 

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