DIBALH: from known fundamental to an unusual reaction; chemoselective partial reduction of tertiary amides in the presence of esters

This study presents a quick and reliable approach to the chemoselective partial reduction of tertiary amides to aldehydes in the presence of readily reducible ester groups using commercial DIBALH reagent. Moreover, the developed method was also extended to multi-functional molecules bearing ester moieties, which were successfully chemoselectively reduced to the corresponding aldehydes.

Automated summary

This study introduces a reliable method for the chemoselective partial reduction of tertiary amides to aldehydes using commercially available DIBALH reagent in the presence of easily reducible ester groups. The method was successfully extended to multi-functional molecules bearing ester groups, achieving selective reduction to the corresponding aldehydes.