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A Well‐Defined Monomeric Aluminum Complex as an Efficient and General Catalyst in the Meerwein–Ponndorf–Verley Reduction
Author(s) -
McNerney Brian,
Whittlesey Bruce,
Cordes David B.,
Krempner Clemens
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201404994
Subject(s) - catalysis , chemistry , alkoxide , monomer , steric effects , aluminium , transition metal , reduction (mathematics) , organic chemistry , combinatorial chemistry , polymer , geometry , mathematics
The metal‐catalyzed Meerwein–Ponndorf–Verley (MPV) reduction allows for the mild and sustainable reduction of aldehydes and ketones but has not found widespread application in organic synthesis due to the high catalyst loading often required to obtain satisfactory yields of the reduced product. We report here on the synthesis and structure of a sterically extremely overloaded siloxide‐supported aluminum isopropoxide capable of catalytically reducing a wide range of aldehydes and ketones (52 examples) in excellent yields under mild conditions and with low catalyst loadings. The unseen activity of the developed catalyst system in MPV reductions is due to its unique monomeric nature and the neutral donor isopropanol weakly coordinating to the aluminum center. The present work implies that monomeric aluminum alkoxide catalysts may be attractive alternatives to transition‐metal‐based systems for the selective reduction of aldehydes and ketones to primary and secondary alcohols.