Unsaturated carbonyl compounds Cadmium

You met organocopper reagents in Chapter 10 where you saw that they did conjugate additions to a,p-unsaturated carbonyl compounds. Other metals, such as cadmium or manganese, can also be used to make ketones from acid chlorides. 

In the case of multiply unsaturated carbonyl compounds, regioselectivity is also sensitive to the nature of the catalyst, to reaction conditions, and to the structure and degree of substitution of the hydrogenated double bonds. For example, hydrogenation of 3,5-heptadien-2-one over nickel on alumina or nickel on zinc oxide occurs mainly at the y,8-double bond. But if the catalyst is modified by the addition of lead or cadmium, reduction occurs mainly at the a,p-double bond (Scheme 24). 

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