Tetrahedron

Practical hydroxymethylation of aldehydes and ketones via pinacol cross-coupling reactions with paraformaldehyde

J Park, SF Pedersen

Index: Park, Jeonghan; Pedersen, Steven F. Tetrahedron, 1992 , vol. 48, # 11 p. 2069 - 2080

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Citation Number: 29

Abstract

A general and practical method for the direct hydroxymethylation of aldehydes and ketones via pinacol cross-coupling with paraformaldehyde is described. The reaction is promoted by vanadium (II) ions which are conveniently generated from the reduction of VCl3 (THF) 3 with zinc dust. Excellent yields of terminal diols are obtained and stereoselective coupling is observed with some chiral aldehydes and ketones.