A Theoretical Study on Reduction of Acyl Radicals with Borohydride Anions

Ab initio and DFT calculations predict that the reduction of the acetyl radical with borohydride proceeds via hydride attack to afford the ketyl radical; the energy bather for the hydride transfer was calculated to be 54.5 kJ mol(-1) at the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVDZ//BHandHLYP/aug-cc-pVDZ level of theory. The DFT calculations also indicated that the hydroxymethylation of iodocyclohexane with CO in the presence of borohydride would proceed smoothly.