Sodium cyanoborohydride isoquinoline

Isoquinoline can be reduced quantitatively over platinum in acidic media to a mixture of i j -decahydroisoquinoline [2744-08-3] and /n j -decahydroisoquinoline [2744-09-4] (32). Hydrogenation with platinum oxide in strong acid, but under mild conditions, selectively reduces the benzene ring and leads to a 90% yield of 5,6,7,8-tetrahydroisoquinoline [36556-06-6] (32,33). Sodium hydride, in dipolar aprotic solvents like hexamethylphosphoric triamide, reduces isoquinoline in quantitative yield to the sodium adduct [81045-34-3] (25) (152). The adduct reacts with acid chlorides or anhydrides to give N-acyl derivatives which are converted to 4-substituted 1,2-dihydroisoquinolines. Sodium borohydride and carboxylic acids combine to provide a one-step reduction—alkylation (35). Sodium cyanoborohydride reduces isoquinoline under similar conditions without N-alkylation to give... 

Isoquinoline (176), as in the case of quinoline, undergoes reductive alkylation with NBH in the presence of carboxylic acids, affording the amine 184. Sodium cyanoborohydride under these conditions gave the unalkylated product 177. Under similar conditions, but at lower temperature, 5-ni-troisoquinoline affords the tetrahydroisoquinoline. ... 

Selective reduction of either the pyridine or the benzene rings in quinolines and isoquinoline can be achieved the heterocyclic ring is reduced to the tetrahydro level by sodium cyanoborohydride in acid solution,by sodium borohydride in the presence of nickel(II) chloride, by zinc borohydride," or, traditionally, by room temperature and room pressure catalytic hydrogenation in methanol. However, in strong acid solution it is the benzene ring which is selectively saturated " longer reaction times can then lead to decahydro-derivatives. 

Compound 183 undergoes B—N cyclodehydration to give the expected isoquinoline 184. Sodium borohydride as a reductive agent was ineffective. However, sodium cyanoborohydride reduction of 184 after prolonged interaction provides tetrahydroisoquinoline 185, which was transformed into an amido ester 186 with ethyl acrylate via Michael addition. The latter can be converted to the desired tricyclic system 187 via Dieckmann cycli-zation.As expected (i-kcto ester 187 is a mixture ofketo—enol tautomers, as proven by its spectroscopic data and a positive FeCls-MeOH test. It is likely that this is the first successful way for the syntheses of l,l-dimethylbenzo[a] quinolizidin-2-ones (Scheme 50) (83JOC1075). 

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