Reductions with lithium in low molecular weight amines and ethylenediamine

Reductions of several types of compounds with lithium and ethylenediamine using low molecular weight amines as solvent are described. In all cases 1 mol of ethylenediamine or N, N'-dimethylethylenediamine per gram-atom of lithium was used. In some cases it was beneficial to add an alcohol as a proton donor. These reaction conditions were applied to the debenzylation of N-benzylamide and lactams which are refractory to hydrogenolysis with hydrogen and a catalyst. N-Benzylpilolactam 2, synthesized from pilocarpine hydrochloride in refluxing benzylamine, was debenzylated in good yield using 10 gram-atoms of lithium per mole (10 Li/mol) of 2 in n-propylamine. The debenzylation of N-benzyl-N-methyldecanoic acid amide, 4 (6 Li/mol), in t-butylamine/N, N'-dimethylethylenediamine gave N-methyldecanoic acid amide 6 in 70% yield. Alternatively, reduction of 4 (7 Li/mol) in t-butanol/n-propylamine/ethylenediamine gave n-decanal 12 in 36% yield. Using the same conditions, thioanisole, 1-adamantane-p-toluenesulfonamide, and 1-adamantane methyl p-toluenesulfonate were reduced with 3, 7, and 7.2 Li/mol of compound to give thiophenol (74%), adamantamine (91%), and 1-adamantane methanol (75%), respectively. In this solvent system naphthalene and 3-methyl-2-cyclohexene-1-one were reduced to isotetralin (74%) and 3-methyl cyclohexanone (quantitative) with 5 and 2.2 Li/mol of starting compound, respectively. Oximes and O-methyloximes were reduced to their corresponding amines using 5 and 8 Li/mol of compound, respectively. Anisole was also reduced to 1-methoxy-1,4-cyclohexadiene with 2.5 Li/mol of anisole. Undecanenitrile was reduced to undecylamine with 8.6 Li/mol. Additionally, a base-catalyzed formation of imidazolines from a nitrile and ethylenediamine was also explored.