With Selectride

Synthetically useful stereoselective reductions have been possible with cyclic carbonyl compounds of rigid conformation. Reduction of substituted cyclohexanone and cyclopentan-one rings by hydrides of moderate activity, e.g. NaBH (J.-L. Luche, 1978), leads to alcohols via hydride addition to the less hindered side of the carbonyl group. Hydrides with bulky substituents 3IQ especially useful for such regio- and stereoselective reductions, e.g. lithium hydrotri-t-butoxyaluminate (C.H. Kuo, 1968) and lithium or potassium tri-sec-butylhydro-borates or hydrotri-sec-isoamylborates (=L-, K-, LS- and KS-Selectrides ) (H.C. Brown, 1972 B C.A. Brown, 1973 S. Krishnamurthy, 1976). 

Alkylborohydrides are also used as reducing agents. These compounds have greater steric demands than the borohydride ion and therefore are more stereoselective in situations in which steric factors come into play.72 These compounds are prepared by reaction of trialkylboranes with lithium, sodium, or potassium hydride.73 Several of the compounds are available commercially under the trade name Selectrides .74... 

Incompatibility of the nitrile group with the oxidative work-up of the L-Selectride reduction using basic hydrogen peroxide Significant hydrolysis to the primary amide with concomitant exothermic activity and loss of product... 

Incompatibility of the nitrile group with the oxidative work-up of the selectride reduction... 

Benzyl-nitrogen, sulfur, or -oxygen bonds are somewhat susceptible to hydrogenolysis, either during catalytic hydrogenation (30, 31), or upon treatment with L-selectride (32), or even lithium aluminium hydride (33). 

The first asymmetric synthesis of (-l-)-abresoline was achieved from the chiral piperidine derivative 153, which upon treatment of its hydroxy side-chain substituent with carbon tetrabromide, triphenylphosphine, and triethyl-amine cyclized to the frarcr-quinazolidine 154. Deketalization and silyl protection of the phenolic group, followed by stereoselective reduction with lithium tri-t -butylborohydride (L-Selectride ), gave an alcohol, which after acylation and deprotection furnished (-l-)-abresoline 155 (Scheme 25) <2005TL2669>. 

Complex hydrides have been used rather frequently for the conjugate reduction of activated dienes92-95. Just and coworkers92 found that the reduction of a,ft-unsaturated ketene 5,5-acetals with lithium triethylborohydride provided mixtures of 1,4- and 1,6-reduction products which were transformed into enals by treatment with mercuric salts (equation 27). Likewise, tetrahydro-3//-naphthalen-2-ones can be reduced with L-Selectride to the 1,6-reduction products93 -95 this reaction has been utilized in the stereoselective synthesis of several terpenes, e.g. of (/ )-(—)-ligularenolide (equation 28)95. Other methods for the conjugate reduction of acceptor-substituted dienes involve the use of methylcopper/diisobutylaluminum hydride96 and of the Hantzsch ester... 

Bond constructions similar to those just discussed can be achieved using an alkylidene malonate which is tethered to an alkyl bromide [72]. Of particular interest in this context is the controlled potential reductive cyclization of 263. As illustrated, the method provides a reasonably facile and modestly efficient entry to cyclobutanes 264. Presumably, the process is initiated by reduction of the alkylidene malonate rather than the alkyl halide, since alkyl bromides are more difficult to reduce. The same substrate, when reduced with L-Selectride undergoes conjugate addition of hydride and a subsequent cyclization leading to the five-membered ring 265. The latter transformation constitutes an example of a MIRC reaction [71-73], a process which is clearly complementary to the... 

Direct condensation of 4, 5-dimethoxy-[2- F]fluorobenzaldehyde with an asymmetric chiral inductor [170] followed by L-selectride reduction of the olefinic double bond and hydrolysis leads to [6- F]fluoro-L-DOPA in 3 % radiochemical yield and an ee higher than 90% (total synthesis time 125 min) (Scheme 34). This method avoids the preparation of F-fluorobenzylhalides. 

Other reagents used for the preparation of lactones from acid anhydrides are lithium borohydride [1019], lithium triethylborohydride (Superhydride ) [1019] and lithium tris sec-butyl)borohydride (L-Selectride ) [1019]. Of the three complex borohydrides the last one is most stereoselective in the reduction of 3-methylphthalic anhydride, 3-methoxyphthalic anhydride, and 1-methoxynaphthalene-2,3-dicarboxylic anhydride. It reduces the less sterically hindered carbonyl group with 85-90% stereoselectivity and is 83-91% yield [1019]. 

Syn stereoselectivity in reduction of acylic chiral ketoxime ethers of type 91 (equation 63) can be obtained using bulky tetramethylammonium triacetoxyborohydride that produces FeUdn-type products with high selectivity . Reaction of a-tolylsulfinylketoximes 92 (equation 64) with L-Selectride also results in syn products 93. 

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