Deoxygenations

Name Reactions

Recent Literature

Direct electrolysis of primary alcohols leads smoothly to the formation of the corresponding deoxygenated product in high yield in the presence of methyl toluate.
K. Lam, I. E. Markõ, Synlett, 2012, 1235-1239.

A direct reduction of alcohols to the corresponding alkanes using chlorodiphenylsilane as hydride source in the presence of a catalytic amount of InCl₃ showed high chemoselectivity for benzylic alcohols, secondary alcohols and tertiary alcohols while not reducing primary alcohols and functional groups that are readily reduced by standard methods such as esters, chloro, bromo, and nitro groups.
M. Yasuda, Y. Onishi, M. Ueba, T. Miyai, A. Baba, J. Org. Chem., 2001, 7741-7744.

Mitsunobu displacement of an alcohol with o-nitrobenzenesulfonylhydrazide followed by in situ elimination of o-nitrobenzenesulfinic acid generates monoalkyl diazenes, which decompose by a free-radical mechanism to form deoxygenated products.
A. G. Myers, M. Movassaghi, B. Zheng, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1997, 119, 8572-8573.

Ketones can efficiently be reduced to the corresponding methylene compound using the convenient and inexpensive combination of PMHS and FeCl₃.
C. Dal Zotto, D. Virieux, J.-M. Campagne, Synlett, 2009, 276-278.

Catalytic Pd(OAc)₂ and polymethylhydrosiloxane (PMHS) effects the chemo-, regio-, and stereoselective deoxygenation of benzylic oxygenated substrates in the presence of aqueous KF and a catalytic amount of an aromatic chloride involving palladium-nanoparticle-catalyzed hydrosilylation followed by C-O reduction. The chloroarene facilitates the hydrogenolysis through the slow controlled release of HCl.
R. J. Rahaim, Jr., R. E. Maleczka, Jr., Org. Lett., 2011, 13, 584-587.

A pyridinylidene carbene dimer effects reductive cleavage of C-O σ-bonds in acyloin derivatives, which represents the first cleavage of C-O σ-bonds by a neutral organic electron-donor. The methodology is applicable to a large array of substrates and the reduced products were isolated in good to excellent yields.
S. P. Y. Cutulic, N. J. Findlay, S.-Z. Zhou, E. J. T. Chrystal, J. A. Murphy, J. Org. Chem., 2009, 74, 8713-8718.

An electrochemical reduction of diphenylphosphinate esters leads smoothly and in high yields to the corresponding deoxygenated products. The electrolysis could be performed at low temperature and with a high current density, resulting in a short reaction time.
K. Lam, I. E. Markó, Org. Lett., 2011, 13, 406-409.

An efficient and economical electrolysis of toluate esters leads smoothly to the corresponding deoxygenated alcohols while a wide variety of functionalities are tolerated. In contrast to previous methods, unstable xanthates, expensive metals and toxic co-solvents are no longer required.
K. Lam, I. E. Markó, Chem. Commun., 2009, 95-97.

A new, easy and versatile methodology for the deoxygenation of alcohols via the corresponding toluates offers a broad scope using simple and commercially available reagents such as toluolyl chloride and samarium(II) iodide. In addition, this methodology is also useful for radical cyclizations directly from toluate precursors.
K. Lam, I. E. Markó, Org. Lett., 2008, 10, 2919-2922.

The reduction of a series of alkyl sulfonates to the corresponding hydrocarbons was efficiently performed using a reducing system composed of CuCl₂·2H₂O, an excess of lithium sand and a catalytic amount of 4,4′-di-tert-butylbiphenyl (DTBB), in tetrahydrofuran at room temperature. The process was also applied to enol and dienol triflates affording alkenes and dienes, respectively.
G. Radivoy, F. Alonso, Y. Moglie, C. Vitale, M. Yus, Tetrahedron, 2005, 61, 3859-3864.

Aliphatic carboxyl derivatives (acids, acyl chlorides, esters) and aldehydes were efficiently reduced to the methyl group by HSiEt₃ in the presence of catalytic amounts of B(C₆F₅)₃.
V. Gevorgyan, M. Rubin, J.-X. Liu, Y. Yamamoto, J. Org. Chem, 2000, 66, 1672-1675.

A new convenient and scalable synthesis of phenylacetic acids via iodide catalyzed reduction of mandelic acids relies on in situ generation of hydroiodic acid from catalytic sodium iodide, employing phosphorus acid as the stoichiometric reductant.
J. E. Milne, T. Storz, J. T. Colyer, O. R. Thiel, M. D. Seran, R. D. Larsen, J. A. Murry, J. Org. Chem., 2011, 76, 9519-9524.

Salicylic acids and alcohols can be reduced to 2-methylphenols by a simple two steps procedure. Reaction conditions were optimized carrying out a study on the solvent effect and the amount of the reducing agent. The improved procedure resulted particularly useful in the synthesis of deuterated building blocks of biological interest.
F. Mazzini, P. Salvadori, Synthesis, 2005, 2479-2481.

M. Couturier, J. L. Tucker, B. M. Andresen, P. Dube, J. T. Negri, Org. Lett., 2001, 3, 465-467.

An indium(III) hydroxide-catalyzed reaction of carbonyls and chlorodimethylsilane afforded the corresponding deoxygenative chlorination products. Ester, nitro, cyano, or halogen groups were not affected during the reaction course. Typical Lewis acids such as TiCl₄, AlCl₃, and BF₃·OEt₂ showed no catalytic activity. The reaction mechanism is discussed.
Y. Onishi, D. Ogawa, M. Yasuda, A. Baba, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2002, 124, 13690-13691.