Photo-enhanced reduction of carbonyl compounds by sodium borohydride

✍ Scribed by Jung Hoon Choi; Dae Whang Kim; Sang Chul Shim

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1986
• Tongue: French
• Weight: 243 KB
• Volume: 27
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0040-4039
• DOI: 10.1016/s0040-4039(00)84204-5

✦ Synopsis

The reduction of ketones and some esters by sodium borohydride is dramatically accelerated by uv irradiation. The reaction seems to proceed from the (n, .rr*) excited state of the carbonyl compound. The photocatalytic effect is dependent on the solvent polarity and substituents on aromatic carboxylic acids and alcohols of esters. Witkop and his coworkers have found in 1965 for the first time that photoexcitation of heterocyclic compounds enhance the sodium borohydride reduction.