www.elsevier.nl/locate/jorganchem
JournalofOrganometallicChemistry609(2000)137–151
Methodsofenhancementofreactivityandselectivityofsodium
borohydrideforapplicationsinorganicsynthesis
MariappanPeriasamy*,MuniappanThirumalaikumar
SchoolofChemistry,Uni6ersityofHyderabad,CentralUni6ersityPO,Hyderabad500046,India
Received29February2000;receivedinrevisedform16April2000
Abstract
NaBH4doesnotreducecarboxylicacids,esters,amidesandnitrilesunderambientconditions.However,thereactivityofNaBH4canbeenhancedbytheadditionofcertainadditives.Forexample,additionofiodinetoNaBH4inTHFprovidesH3B–THFthatisusefulforhydroborationsandreductionsofvariousfunctionalgroups.ThealdehydesandketonesarereducedinafastmannerbytheNaBH4reagent.Evenso,theselectivitiesrealisedinsuchreductionscanbeenhancedusingNaBH4alongwithanotheradditive.Inthisarticle,variousmethodsusedfortheenhancementofreactivityandselectivityofNaBH4inorganicsynthesisaredescribed.©2000ElsevierScienceS.A.Allrightsreserved.
Keywords:Sodiumborohydride;Enhancementofreactivity;Additives;Reductionoforganics
1.Introduction
Metalhydridesarevaluablereagentsinmodernor-ganicchemistry.ThemostfrequentlyusedhydrideistheNaBH4reagent.Itisamild,inexpensiveandinvalu-ablereagentforapplicationsinawiderangeofreduc-tionprocesses.Itisthereagentofchoiceforthereductionofaldehydesandketonestoalcohols[1]andimines[2]oriminiumsalts[3]toamineswithproticsolvents[4].Thecarboxylicacids,esters,amidesandnitrilesaremoreresistanttowardsNaBH4[1].How-ever,thereactivityofNaBH4canbeenhancedbycarryingoutthereactioninthepresenceofcertainadditives.Inthisarticle,variousmethodsofenhance-mentofreactivityandselectivityofNaBH4usingaddi-tivesforapplicationsinorganicsynthesisaredescribed.
stereospeci cities[5].Historically,BrownandSubbaRaodiscoveredthehydroborationreactionduringtheirinvestigationoftheactivationofNaBH4forthereduc-tionofestersusingAlCl3[6].TheuseofBF3intheplaceofAlCl3ledtomoreeffectiveutilisationofthehydrideforthegenerationofdiborane,B2H6andbo-raneLewisbasecomplexes(Eqs.1–3)[7].9RCH CH2+AlCl3
3(RCH2CH2)3B+AlH3+3NaCl12RCH CH2+3NaBH4+4BF3
diglymediglyme
(1)
4(RCH2CH2)3B+3NaBF4
(2)
(RCH2CH2)3B+3H2O2+NaOH 3RCH2CH2OH+NaB(OH)4
(3)
2.Hydroborationofalkenesandalkynes
Hydroborationofcarbon carbonmultiplebondsprovidesamethodforthesynthesisofthevaluableorganoboraneintermediateswithhighregio-and
*Correspondingauthor.Tel.:+91-40-3010904;fax:+91-40-3010120.
E-mailaddress:mpsc@uohyd.ernet.in(M.Periasamy)
Althoughseveraloftheseboranecomplexesarecom-merciallyavailable(e.g.H3B–THF,H3B–SMe2andH3B–NR3),therehavebeensustainedeffortstowardsthedevelopmentofalternative,simpleandconvenientmethodsofgenerationofboranesinsituforhydrobo-ration.In1963,itwasreportedthata1:1mixtureofNaBH4andCH3COOHhydroboratesalkenes[8a].Later,amodi edprocedureforhydroboranesusingNaBH4–CH3COOHwasreported(Eq.(4))[8b].
0022-328X/00/$-seefrontmatter©2000ElsevierScienceS.A.Allrightsreserved.PII:S0022-328X(00)00210-2