Selective Reduction of Carbonyl Compounds with Diisopinocampheylhaloboranes

Selective Reduction of Carbonyl Compounds with Diisopinocampheylhaloboranes

Reaction of carbonyl compounds with diisopinocampheylhaloboranes (Ipc2BX,X=Cl, Br, I) was investigated in detail in order to establish their usefulness as selective reducing agents. The reagents reduced aldehydes and ketones to the corresponding alcohols. The reactivities are in the order of Ipc2BCl Ipc2BBr>Ipc2BI.The reagents also reduced ${\alpha}{\beta}-unsaturated$, aldehydes and ketones to the corresponding allylic alcohols without any detectable 1,4-reduction. Especially, the chloro derivative nicely achieved the selective reduction of aldehyde or ketone groups in the presence of many other functional groups. The most remarkable result of this investigation is that aldehydes and ketones can be selectively reduced in the presence of acid chlorides.