Borane-Sodium borohydride

Cyclopropenylium ions 1 were converted into the corresponding cyclopropenes 2 by the addition of hydride ion derived from various hydride sources, such as lithium aluminum hydride,sodium borohydride, borane-amine complex, triethylsilane, and tributyl-tin hydride. Particularly in the case of borohydride reduction of the diphenylcyclo-propenylium ion, the order of reagent addition was quite important. The slow addition of an acetonitrile solution of the cyclopropenylium salt into a solution of the borohydride gave the cyclopropene derivative,whereas the inverse order of addition resulted in quantitative formation of 1,2,4,5-tetraphenylbenzene (see Section 2.1.2.3.), No such precaution of the inverse addition was required in the case of borane-amine reduction of the l-chloro-2,3-diphenyl-cyclopropenylium ion. ... 

Organoboranes are obtained by addition of borane or alkyl boranes to alkenes (or alkynes). Borane itself can be prepared by reaction of boron trifluoride ether-ate with sodium borohydride. Borane exists as a dimer, but solutions containing an electron donor, such as an ether, amine or sulfide, allow adduct formation. The complexes BHa-THF and the borane-dimethyl sulfide complex BH3 SMc2 are commercially available and provide a convenient source of borane. The dimethyl sulfide complex is more stable than BHa-THF and has the additional advantage that it is soluble in a variety of organic solvents, such as diethyl ether and hexane. 

Hydrazine—borane compounds are made by the reaction of sodium borohydride and a hydrazine salt in THF (23,24). The mono-(N2H4 BH ) and di-(N2H4 2BH2) adducts are obtained, depending on the reaction conditions. These compounds have been suggested as rocket fuels (25) and for chemical deposition of nickel—boron alloys on nonmetallic surfaces (see Metallic COATINGS) (26). 

Electroless nickel—boron baths use sodium borohydride or dimethylamine borane [74-94-2] in place of sodium hypophosphite (see Boron compounds). The nickel—boron aHoy is brittle, highly stressed, and much more expensive than nickel—phosphoms aHoys. Nickel—boron is mainly used to replace gold in printed circuit board plating. 

Sodium borohydride or dimethylarnine borane have found limited use as reduciag agents because of expense. In addition, bath stabiHty, plating rate, and deposit properties are inferior to those of formaldehyde-reduced baths. The deposit is a copper—boron alloy. Copper—hypophosphite baths have been iavestigated, but these are poorly autocatalytic, and deposit only very thin coatings. 

Boron forms a remarkable series of binary compounds with hydrogen—the boranes. These compounds include diborane, B2H6, and more complex compounds such as decaborane, B10H14. Anionic versions of these compounds, the borohydrides, are known the most important is BH4 as sodium borohydride, NaBH4. 

The boranes are an extensive series of binary compounds of boron and hydrogen, somewhat analogous to the hydrocarbons. The starting point for borane production is the reaction (in an organic solvent) of sodium borohydride with boron trifluoride ... 

Devaky and Rajasree have reported the production of a polymer-bound ethylenediamine-borane reagent (63) (Fig. 41) for use as a reducing agent for the reduction of aldehydes.87 The polymeric reagent was derived from a Merrifield resin and a 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate-cross-linked polystyrene resin (HDODA-PS). The borane reagent was incorporated in the polymer support by complexation with sodium borohydride. When this reducing agent was used in the competitive reduction of a 1 1 molar mixture of benzaldehyde and acetophenone, benzaldehyde was found to be selectively reduced to benzyl alcohol. 

Nonmetallic systems (Chapter 11) are efficient for catalytic reduction and are complementary to the metallic catalytic methods. For example lithium aluminium hydride, sodium borohydride and borane-tetrahydrofuran have been modified with enantiomerically pure ligands161. Among those catalysts, the chirally modified boron complexes have received increased interest. Several ligands, such as amino alcohols[7], phosphino alcohols18 91 and hydroxysulfoximines[10], com-plexed with the borane, have been found to be selective reducing agents. 

The authors then go on to measure the kinetics in the presence of two oxazabor-ole catalysts, (92a) and (92b).The rate-determining step is the reaction of the ketone with an oxazaborole-borane complex, with the direct reduction competing with the catalytic cycle (as mentioned above). The oxazaborole reaction, like the direct reduction, is significantly accelerated by the presence of sodium borohydride. 

A boron analog - sodium borohydride - was prepared by reaction of sodium hydride with trimethyl borate [84 or with sodium fluoroborate and hydrogen [55], and gives, on treatment with boron trifluoride or aluminum chloride, borane (diborane) [86. Borane is a strong Lewis acid and forms complexes with many Lewis bases. Some of them, such as complexes with dimethyl sulfide, trimethyl amine and others, are sufficiently stable to have been made commercially available. Some others should be handled with precautions. A spontaneous explosion of a molar solution of borane in tetrahydrofuran stored at less than 15° out of direct sunlight has been reported [87]. 

Opening of a bottle where some particles of lithium aluminum hydride were squeezed between the neck and the stopper caused a fire [68]. Lithium aluminum hydride must not be crushed in a porcelain mortar with a pestle. Fire and even explosion may result from contact of lithium aluminum hydride with small amounts of water or moisture. Sodium bis(2-methoxy-ethoxy)aluminum hydride (Vitride, Red-Al ) delivered in benzene or toluene solutions also may ignite in contact with water. Borane (diborane) ignites in contact with air and is therefore kept in solutions in tetrahydrofuran or in complexes with amines and sulfides. Powdered lithium borohydride may ignite in moist air. Sodium borohydride and sodium cyanoborohydride, on the other hand, are considered safe. ... 

The double bond in indole and its homologs and derivatives is reduced easily and selectively by catalytic hydrogenation over platinum oxide in ethanol and fluoroboric acid [456], by sodium borohydride [457], by sodium cyanoborohydride [457], by borane [458,459], by sodium in ammonia [460], by lithium [461] and by zinc [462]. Reduction with sodium borohydride in acetic acid can result in alkylation on nitrogen giving JV-ethylindoline [457]. 

For the reduction of aliphatic ketones to hydrocarbons several methods are available reduction with triethylsilane and boron trifluoride [772], Clemmensen reduction [160, 758] (p. 28), Wolff-Kizhner reduction [280, 281, 759] (p. 34), reduction of p-toluenesulfonylhydrazones with sodium borohydride [785], sodium cyanoborohydride [57i] or borane [786] (p. 134), desulfurization of dithioketals (jaeicaipioles) [799,823] (pp. 130,131) and electroreduction [824]. 

Reduction of a, -unsaturated ketones to unsaturated hydrocarbon is rather rare, and is almost always accompanied by a shift of the double bond. Such reductions are accomplished in good to high yields by treatment of the p-toluenesulfonylhydrazones of the unsaturated ketones with sodium borohydride [785], borane [786] or catecholborane [559], or by Wolff-Kizhner reduction or its modifications [590]. However, complete reduction to saturated hydrocarbons may also occur during Wolff-Kizhner reduction [597] as well as during Clemmensen reduction [750]. 

Sodium borohydride does not reduce the free carboxylic group, but borane prepared from sodium borohydride and boron trifluoride etherate in tetrahydrofuran converts aliphatic acids to alcohols at 0-25° in 89-100% yields... 

Reduction of aromatic carboxylic acids to alcohols can be achieved by hydrides and complex hydrides, e.g. lithium aluminum hydride 968], sodium aluminum hydride [55] and sodium bis 2-methoxyethoxy)aluminum hydride [544, 969, 970], and with borane (diborane) [976] prepared from sodium borohydride and boron trifluoride etherate [971, 977] or aluminum chloride [755, 975] in diglyme. Sodium borohydride alone does not reduce free carboxylic acids. Anthranilic acid was reduced to the corresponding alcohol by electroreduction in sulfuric acid at 20-30° in 69-78% yield [979],... 

Other reagents used for reduction are boranes and complex borohydrides. Lithium borohydride whose reducing power lies between that of lithium aluminum hydride and that of sodium borohydride reacts with esters sluggishly and requires refluxing for several hours in ether or tetrahydrofuran (in which it is more soluble) [750]. The reduction of esters with lithium borohydride is strongly catalyzed by boranes such as B-methoxy-9-bora-bicyclo[3.3.1]nonane and some other complex lithium borohydrides such as lithium triethylborohydride and lithium 9-borabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane. Addition of 10mol% of such hydrides shortens the time necessary for complete reduction of esters in ether or tetrahydrofuran from 8 hours to 0.5-1 hour [1060],... 

Borane prepared by adding aluminum chloride to a solution of sodium borohydride in diethylene glycol dimethyl ether (diglyme) reduced aliphatic and aromatic esters to alcohols in quantitative yields in 3 hours at 25° using a 100% excess, or in 1 hour at 75° using a 25% excess of lithium borohydride over 2 mol of the hydride per mol of the ester [738] Procedure 20, p. 209). 

High yields of amines have also been obtained by reduction of amides with an excess of magnesium aluminum hydride (yield 100%) [577], with lithium trimethoxyaluminohydride at 25° (yield 83%) [94] with sodium bis(2-methoxy-ethoxy)aluminum hydride at 80° (yield 84.5%) [544], with alane in tetra-hydrofuran at 0-25° (isolated yields 46-93%) [994, 1117], with sodium boro-hydride and triethoxyoxonium fluoroborates at room temperature (yields 81-94%) [1121], with sodium borohydride in the presence of acetic or trifluoroacetic acid on refluxing (yields 20-92.5%) [1118], with borane in tetrahydrofuran on refluxing (isolated yields 79-84%) [1119], with borane-dimethyl sulflde complex (5 mol) in tetrahydrofuran on refluxing (isolated yields 37-89%) [1064], and by electrolysis in dilute sulfuric acid at 5° using a lead cathode (yields 63-76%) [1120]. 

Reduction of 5,5-dimethyl-2-pyrrolidone with 3 mol of lithium aluminum hydride by refluxing for 8 hours in tetrahydrofuran gave 2,2-dimethylpyrrol-idine in 67-79% yields [1123]. Reduction of e-caprolactam was accomplished by heating with sodium bis(2-methoxyethoxy)aluminum hydride [544], by successive treatment with triethyloxonium fiuoroborate and sodium borohydride [1121], and by refluxing with borane-d ras. )a.y sulfide complex [1064]. 

The reaction has broad applications and a large number of secondary and especially tertiary amines was prepared in isolated yields ranging from 60% to 84% [1136]. Although the mechanism of this reaction is not clear it is likely that the key step is reduction of the acid by borane, generated in situ from sodium borohydride and the acid, to an aldehyde which reacts with the amine as described in the section on reductive amination (p. 134-136). 

Readily available a,/3-unsaturated nitro compounds such as 77 undergo facile reduction into aUtylhydroxylamines of type 78 (equation 55) with borane/THF complex in the presence of catalytic amounts of sodium borohydride 74 ... 

Methylcryptaustoline iodide (14) was synthesized from phenylacetic acid 47 by Elliott (39) as shown in Scheme 7. Nitration of 47 to the 6-nitro compound 48 and reduction with sodium borohydride afforded lactone 49. Reduction of the aromatic nitro group with iron powder in acetic acid gave ami-nolactone 50, which was converted to tetracyclic lactam 51 with trifluoroacetic acid in dichloromethane. Reduction of the lactam by a borane-THF complex followed by treatment with methyl iodide afforded ( )-0-methylcryptaustoline iodide (14). 

Tetrahydrothiazin-3-ones are lactams that have been reduced to tetrahydrothiazines with borane <1980JHC449>, sodium borohydride <1992JOC4215>, or LAH <1987H(26)1503>, without cleavage of carbon-sulfur bond. In one case, incomplete reduction occured with LAH the intermediate lactol was dehydrated to give a dihydrothiazine as main product <1989JPS937>. 

Volatile boron compounds, especially boranes, are usually more toxic than boric acid or soluble borates (Table 29.9) (NAS 1980). However, there is little commercial production of synthetic boranes, except for sodium borohydride — one of the least toxic boranes (Sprague 1972). Boron trifluoride is a gas used as a catalyst in several industrial systems, but on exposure to moisture in air, it reacts to form a stable dihydride (Rusch etal. 1986). Eor boric oxide dusts, occupational exposures to 4.1 mg/m (range 1.2 to 8.5) are associated with eye irritation dryness of mouth, nose and throat sore throat and cough (Garabrant et al. 1984). 

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