Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Eschweiler–Clarke vs Leuckart reaction

biomechem - 9-5-2018 at 07:27

Is it possibile to predict which of these reactions will take a place with α-amino ketones? If it is then how to do it?
Also would sodium bisulfite be sufficient for protecting ketone group?


[Edited on 9-5-2018 by biomechem]

CaptainMolo - 10-5-2018 at 09:16

I honestly don’t even know those two reactions very well, but that last part sounds dubious because bisulfite adducts can be broken quite easily with dilute acid or alkaline solutions. I don’t know if that’s helpful at all but that’s what came to mind when I saw that.

After looking up the two reactions, I can say that for the Eschweiler-Clarke reaction, the example given mentioned formic acid, which would likely break the adduct. The Leuckart reaction mentions formamide which is alkaline, but I don’t know if it’s alkaline enough to break the adduct.

Do you currently have a synthesis planned that would encounter this scenario, or is this purely theoretical? If you’re doing a real synthesis I would very much like to hear how it went. It sounds interesting.