The reductive decyanation reaction: an overview and recent developments

• Jean-Marc R. Mattalia

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 267–284, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.30

• , malononitriles are reacting with a slight excess of NHC-borane 71, in refluxing t-BuOH with DTBP (di-tert-butylperoxide) as radical initiator. The yields are attractive while roughly comparable amounts of boryl nitriles 74 and 75 are formed (Scheme 23). Malononitriles 72d,e are successfully reduced to 73d,e

• while with photoactivated 78 such substrates afforded complex mixtures (see below). Contrary to the reductive decyanation with Bu3SnH [115], the NHC borane reduces the α-cyanoester 72g to 73g while the aryl chloride and bromide moieties are preserved (73h,i). The use of a 5-hexenyl radical probe led to

• nitrile carbon to form the nitrogen centered radical 77. β-Fragmentation leads to NHC-boryl nitrile 74 and a carbon centered radical. A hydrogen atom transfer reaction between the electrophilic α-cyano radical and the nucleophile NHC-borane achieves the chain propagation (Scheme 24). The isolation of the

One-pot synthesis of cyanohydrin derivatives from alkyl bromides via incorporation of two one-carbon components by consecutive radical/ionic reactions

• Shuhei Sumino,
• Akira Fusano,
• Hiroyuki Okai,
• Takahide Fukuyama and
• Ilhyong Ryu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2014, 10, 150–154, doi:10.3762/bjoc.10.12

• work in collaboration with Dennis Curran has revealed that, with the use of NHC-borane [18], hydroxymethylation of aromatic iodides can be attained [19]. All these reactions consist of the combination of radical formylation with CO and ionic hydride reduction by hydride reagents (Scheme 1, reaction 1

Reductions of aldehydes and ketones with a readily available N-heterocyclic carbene borane and acetic acid

• Vladimir Lamm,
• Xiangcheng Pan,
• Tsuyoshi Taniguchi and
• Dennis P. Curran

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2013, 9, 675–680, doi:10.3762/bjoc.9.76

• -dimethylimidazol-2-ylidene borane. Aldehydes are reduced over 1–24 h at room temperature with 1 equiv of acetic acid and 0.5 equiv of the NHC-borane. Ketone reductions are slower but can be accelerated by using 5 equiv of acetic acid. Aldehydes can be selectively reduced in the presence of ketones. On a small

• scale, products are isolated by evaporation of the reaction mixture and direct chromatography. Keywords: NHC-borane; N-heterocyclic carbene borane; reduction; Introduction Reduction of carbonyl compounds is a common, fundamental chemical transformation. Among the numerous hydride reagents available

• rather slow [23]. After one day (entry 2), about 18% of 2 was converted to the known boryl acetate 4a (−14 ppm) [14]. After three days (entry 3), the major component was still the starting NHC-borane 2, but now there was 22% of 4a and 19% of a new product that exhibited a broad doublet at −3 ppm. We

CAAC Boranes. Synthesis and characterization of cyclic (alkyl) (amino) carbene borane complexes from BF₃ and BH₃

• Julien Monot,
• Louis Fensterbank,
• Max Malacria,
• Emmanuel Lacôte,
• Steven J. Geib and
• Dennis P. Curran

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2010, 6, 709–712, doi:10.3762/bjoc.6.82

• , sulfides, etc.), NHC–borane complexes are highly stable in diverse environments. Complexes such as those shown in Figure 1 are white solids that can often be chromatographed if desired. Many such complexes resist decomplexation, oxidation, and both acidic and basic hydrolysis. Such NHC–boranes are