A novel reduction reaction for the conversion of aldehydes, ketones and primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols into their corresponding alkanes

A novel one-pot reaction has been developed for the reduction of aldehydes, ketones and primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols into their corresponding alkyl function. This is also the first reported method which can efficiently reduce primary, secondary, or tertiary alcohols, without affecting carbon-carbon double bonds, into their corresponding alkyl function in high yields. The reduction utilises either diethylsilane or n-butylsilane as the reducing agent in the presence of the Lewis acid catalyst tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.