Reduction of benzylic alcohols and α-hydroxycarbonyl compounds by hydriodic acid in a biphasic reaction medium

• Michael Dobmeier,
• Josef M. Herrmann,
• Dieter Lenoir and
• Burkhard König

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 330–336, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.36

• ) in the presence of 0.6 equiv phosphorous are sufficient to achieve conversion. Keywords: alcohols; catalysis; iodine; phosphorous reduction; Introduction The reduction of hydroxy groups is a typical and important step in the synthesis of complex natural products or drugs [1][2][3][4]. Functional