smiley_boy (Hive Bee)
12-26-00 21:52
No 77969
      novel nitrile reduction methods  Bookmark   

Hello.

I wanted to open a discussion of novel nitrile reduction methods. Recently, nitrile reductions have become en vogue among a lot of bees, but little discussion has been given to methods outside of catalytic hydrogenation and LiAlH4.

So, what else is there? Vitride will do the job, and so will LiBH4. Diborane and Lewis acid-base borane complexes will do too. I'm sure hydrazine could be made to work as well. Catalytic transfer hydrogenation sounds especially promising with respect to nitriles - does anybody have any information on this?