Triethylsilane acid

A catalyst, usually acid, is required to promote chemoselective and regioselective reduction under mild conditions. A variety of organosilanes can be used, but triethylsilane ia the presence of trifiuoroacetic acid is the most frequendy reported. Use of this reagent enables reduction of alkenes to alkanes. Branched alkenes are reduced more readily than unbranched ones. Selective hydrogenation of branched dienes is also possible. 

Because of Us high polarity and low nucleophilicity, a trifluoroacetic acid medium is usually used for the investigation of such carbocationic processes as solvolysis, protonation of alkenes, skeletal rearrangements, and hydride shifts [22-24] It also has been used for several synthetically useful reachons, such as electrophilic aromatic substitution [25], reductions [26, 27], and oxidations [28] Trifluoroacetic acid is a good medium for the nitration of aromatic compounds Nitration of benzene or toluene with sodium nitrate in trifluoroacetic acid is almost quantitative after 4 h at room temperature [25] Under these conditions, toluene gives the usual mixture of mononitrotoluenes in an o m p ratio of 61 6 2 6 35 8 A trifluoroacetic acid medium can be used for the reduction of acids, ketones, and alcohols with sodium borohydnde [26] or triethylsilane [27] Diary Iketones are smoothly reduced by sodium borohydnde in trifluoroacetic acid to diarylmethanes (equation 13)... 

The reduction is general for a variety of substituted benzophenones Such substituents as CH3 OH, OCH3, F, Br. N(CH3)2, NO2. COOH, COOCH3, NHCOC Hreaction conditions and do not alter the course of the reduction Diarylmethanols are reduced to diarylmethanes under the same conditions and probably are the intermediates in the reduction of ketones [26] Triethylsilane also can be used as a reducing agent in trifluoroacetic acid medium [27J This reagent is used for the reduction of benzoic acid and some other carboxylic acids under mild condiUons (equation 14) Some acids (phthalic, sue cinic, and 4-nitrobenzoic) are not reduced under these conditions [27]... 

Carboxamides and esters of arenecarboxylic acids are obtainable directly by reacting arenediazosulfones (Ar — N2 —S02 —Ar ) with CO and amines or alcohols, respectively, in the presence of Pd catalysts (Kamigata et al., 1989). Aromatic aldehydes are formed if the reaction is carried out in the presence of triethylsilane (Kikukawa et al., 1984). In an analogous way, arenediazonium salts can be transformed into ketones (ArCO —R R = CH3, C2H5, or C6H5) in the presence of stan-nanes, R4Sn (Kikukawa et al., 1982). 

Triethylamine, 61,83,87,88,94,99,100,112 Triethylamine N-oxide, 84 Triethylbenzylammonium chloride, 49 Triethylsilane, 104,127.128 Trifluoroacetic acid, 59 Trimethyi-m-dimethylaminophenylsilane, 40 Trimethyl orthoformate, 109... 

Although catalytic hydrogenation is the method most often used, double bonds can be reduced by other reagents, as well. Among these are sodium in ethanol, sodium and rerr-butyl alcohol in HMPA, lithium and aliphatic amines (see also 15-14), " zinc and acids, sodium hypophosphate and Pd-C, (EtO)3SiH—Pd(OAc)2, trifluoroacetic acid and triethylsilane (EtsSiH), and hydroxylamine and ethyl acetate.However, metallic hydrides, such as lithium aluminum hydride and sodium borohydride, do not in general reduce carbon-carbon double bonds, although this can be done in special cases where the double bond is polar, as in 1,1-diarylethenes and in enamines. " °... 

Aldehydes and ketones can be converted to ethers by treatment with an alcohol and triethylsilane in the presence of a strong acid or by hydrogenation in alcoholic acid in the presence of platinum oxide. The process can formally be regarded as addition of ROH to give a hemiacetal RR C(OH)OR", followed by reduction of the OH. In this respect, it is similar to 16-14. In a similar reaction, ketones can be converted to carboxylic esters (reductive acylation of ketones) by treatment with an acyl chloride and triphenyltin hydride. " ... 

Benzylic or allylic oxygen functions react with Lewis acids such as trifluoroacetic acid to generate allyl or benzylic cations which abstract a hydride from silanes such as triethylsilane 84 b to result in the removal of the oxygen function in a process which has been called ionic hydrogenation and which has been reviewed [34-38]. 

With TMSOTf 20 as catalyst instead, reduction of acetals or ketals has also been achieved with triethylsilane 84b in the presence of triflic acid/BSA 22a [56] or with triethylsilane 84b/Nafion-H, which can be readily recovered [57]. 

Whereas primary amides such as butyric acid amide, on heating to 140-150 °C with triethylsilane 84b and ZnCl2, give, e.g., 78% butyronitrile 1853 and 95% HMDSO 7 [79], the secondary amide benzanilide is readily converted into 90% O-triethylsilyl imino ether 1854 [80] whereas the tertiary amide N,N-diethylacetamide... 

Aliphatic ketones can be reduced to hydrocarbons by triethylsilane and gaseous BF3.178 The BF3 is a sufficiently strong Lewis acid to promote formation of a carbocation from the intermediate alcohol. 

Synthesis of a tricyclic core of marine alkaloid variolin B has been achieved in three steps. The key reaction involves tandem deoxygenation and cylization of a triarylmethanol 187 using a combination of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) and triethylsilane (TES). The use of 4.3equiv of TFA and 8.1 equiv of TES minimizes the formation of side products 188, 189 and allows the formation of the desired product 190 in 34% yield (Scheme 5) <2005JOC6204>. 

Aluminum chloride, used either as a stoichiometric reagent or as a catalyst with gaseous hydrogen chloride, may be used to promote silane reductions of secondary alkyl alcohols that otherwise resist reduction by the action of weaker acids.136 For example, cyclohexanol is not reduced by organosilicon hydrides in the presence of trifluoroacetic acid in dichloromethane, presumably because of the relative instability and difficult formation of the secondary cyclohexyl carbocation. By contrast, treatment of cyclohexanol with an excess of hydrogen chloride gas in the presence of a three-to-four-fold excess of triethylsilane and 1.5 equivalents of aluminum chloride in anhydrous dichloromethane produces 70% of cyclohexane and 7% of methylcyclopentane after a reaction time of 3.5 hours at... 

Tertiary Alkyl Alcohols. Tertiary alkyl alcohols generally undergo facile reduction when treated with acids in the presence of organosilicon hydrides.127,136 This comparative ease of reduction reflects the enhanced stability and ease of formation of tertiary alkyl carbenium ions compared with primary and secondary carbenium ions. Thus, treatment of 1-methylcyclohexanol with mixtures of triethylsilane and aluminum chloride in dichloromethane produces near quantitative yields of methylcyclohexane with or without added hydrogen chloride in as little as 30 minutes at room temperature, in contrast to the more vigorous conditions needed for the reduction of the secondary alcohol cyclohex-anol.136... 

The tertiary alcohol m,m,/ra ,v-perhydro-9h-phcnalcnol (7) is converted stereospecifically and in high yield (92%) to /ran.v,/ran.v,/ran.v-pcrhydrophcnalcnc (10) when treated with either triethylsilane or triphenylsilane and trifluoroacetic acid in dichloromethane (Eq. 15). Studies indicate that the reaction path follows the cation rearrangement 8 9 and that the trans trifluoroacetate ester related to... 

In a similar fashion, 2-cumyladamantane (12, R = Ph) is formed in nearly quantitative yield upon treatment of the easily synthesized 2-cumyl-2-adaman-tanol (11, R = Ph)154 with triethylsilane and methanesulfonic acid in dichloromethane at —78°.155 The high yield of a single very strained hydrocarbon product in each reaction is quite surprising in view of the very complex interconversions of carbocations known to take place from the alcohol precursors.140,151 152 156... 

Benzyl Alcohols. Benzyl alcohols of nearly all kinds undergo reduction when treated with acid in the presence of organosilicon hydrides. The most obvious exception to this is the behavior of benzyl alcohol itself. It resists reduction by the action of trifluoroacetic acid and triethylsilane, even after extended reaction times.26 Reducing systems consisting of triethylsilane and sulfuric acid/acetic acid or p-toluenesullonic acid/acetic acid mixtures also fail to reduce benzyl alcohol to toluene.134 As previously mentioned, substitution of boron trifluoride for trifluoroacetic acid results in the formation of modest yields of toluene, but only when a very large excess of the silane is used in order to capture the benzyl cation intermediate and suppress Friedel-Crafts oligomerization processes.129,143... 

Ring-substituted benzyl alcohols sometimes undergo such reduction more effectively than unsubstituted alcohols. For example, treatment of a dichloromethane solution of 2,4,6-trimethylbenzyl alcohol with trifluoroacetic acid and triphenylsilane produces a 41% isolated (89% by GLC) yield of isodurene.26 Treatment of 2-me(hyl-4,6-di-/m-buty I benzyl alcohol with a three-fold excess of triethylsilane and trifluoroacetic acid in dichloromethane at room temperature gives an 85% yield of 2-mclhyl-4,6-di-/m-butyltoluene together with 15% of 3,5-di-ferf-butyltoluene. The latter is presumably formed by loss of protonated formaldehyde from the Cl ring-protonated substrate.128 Similar treatment of 2,4,6-tri-ferf-butylbenzyl alcohol produces a 90% yield of 2,4,6-tri-tert-butyltoluene within one hour (Eq. 21).128... 

The reduction of 2-(hydroxymethyl)-l,4,6,8-tetramethylazulene to 1,2,4,6,8-pentamethylazulene occurs quantitatively upon treatment with triethylsilane and trifluoroacetic acid at 60° for 19 hours (Eq. 22).163... 

Reduction of either the exo or endo isomer of 2-phenyl-2-norbornanol with trifluoroacetic acid and triethylsilane, triphenylsilane, or phenylsilane in dichloro-methane gives endo-2-phenylnorbomane quantitatively (Eq. 24).164 The stereospecific formation of only the endo-hydrocarbon can be understood on the basis that only exo approach by organosilicon hydride toward the 2-phenylnorbornyl cation intermediate is kinetically competitive for product formation.164... 

A variety of para-substituted 2-phenyl-2-butanols undergo quick and efficient reductions to the corresponding 2-phenylbutanes when they are dissolved in dichloromethane and a 2-10% excess of phenylmethylneopentylsilane and boron trifluoride is introduced at 0° (Eq. 30).126 Several reactions deserve mention. For example, when R = CF3, use of trifluoroacetic acid produces no hydrocarbon product, even after two hours of reaction time. In contrast, addition of boron trifluoride catalyst provides an 80% yield of product after only two minutes. When R = MeO, both trifluoroacetic acid and boron trifluoride produce a quantitative yield of the hydrocarbon within two minutes. However, when R = NO2, attempts to promote the reduction with either trifluoroacetic acid or even methanesulfonic acid fail even after reaction periods of up to eight hours, only recovered starting alcohol is obtained. Use of boron trifluoride provides a quantitative conversion into 2-(/ -nitrophenyl)butane after only ten minutes. It is significant that the normally easily reducible nitro group survives these conditions entirely intact.126129 Triethylsilane may be used as the silane.143... 

Intramolecular Friedel-Crafts reactions can sometimes compete with organosil-icon hydride reductions of benzylic-type alcohols to cause formation of undesired products. An example is the attempted reduction of alcohol 26 to the corresponding hydrocarbon. When 26 is treated with triethylsilane in trifluoroacetic acid at room temperature for 15 hours, a mixture of the two fluorene isomers 27 and 28 is obtained in a combined yield of 45%. None of the hydrocarbon structurally related to the substrate alcohol 26 is obtained.171 Whether this problem could be circumvented by running the reduction at a lower temperature or with a different acid remains subject to experimentation. 

It is possible to effect reduction of tertiary benzylic hydroxy functions in the presence of primary halogens. Treatment of 1,1-diphenyl-l-hydroxy-2-haloethanes in chloroform with a slight excess of triethylsilane and a 9- to 10-fold excess of trifluoroacetic acid yields the corresponding 2,2-diphenyl-1-haloethanes (Eq. 45). The yield of the chloride is 77% after one hour at —15°, whereas that of the bromide is 66% following one hour at 0°.184... 

The reduction of 4-chloro-4-methyltetrahydropyran with triethylsilane requires more than a catalytic amount of aluminum chloride. No 4-methyltetrahydropyran is obtained after 20 hours at room temperature even when 0.75 equivalents of the catalyst is used, but a 92% yield is obtained after only 30 minutes when two equivalents of catalyst and three equivalents of triethylsilane are used.136 146 This is presumably a result of the ability of the Lewis acid to coordinate at the ring oxygen as well as at the chlorine. The introduction of alkyl groups at C2 appears to introduce enough steric hindrance near the ring oxygen to enable less than one equivalent of aluminum chloride to effect reduction, but also makes the products unstable to the reaction conditions so that the synthetic yields decline compared with the unsubstituted substrate.136... 

Dichloromethane solutions of some sterically congested benzyl chlorides and triethylsilane need only the addition of excess trifluoroacetic acid to promote rapid conversion of the chlorides to the related hydrocarbons.128 Thus 2,4,6-trimethylbenzyl chloride produces a 79% yield of isodurene at room temperature after 2.5 hours, 2-methyl-4,6-di-/m-bu(ylbenzyl chloride gives 50% 1, 2-di-methyl-4,6-di-tm-butylbenzene after 40 minutes at reflux, and 2,4,6-tm-butyl-benzyl chloride gives a 100% yield of 2,4,6-tri-rm-butyltoluene within 17 minutes at reflux (Eq. 54). The unsubstituted parent benzyl chloride remains unreacted under these conditions even after 30 days.128... 

---