Tetrahedron letters

Viologens that plunder electron from solid reducing agent. Reduction of aryl ketones by zinc powder in the presence of propyl viologen as an electron transfer catalyst

T Endo, Y Saotome, M Okawara

Index: Endo, Takeshi; Saotome, Yasushi; Okawara, Makoto Tetrahedron Letters, 1985 , vol. 26, # 37 p. 4525 - 4526

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Citation Number: 22

Abstract

Abstract It was found that viologen (propyl viologen) acted as an Electron Transfer Catalyst (ETC) in the reduction of aryl ketones with zinc powder. α-Diketones undertook the two- electron reduction to obtain the corresponding benzoins in good yields and aromatic ketones could one-electron reduced selectively to give the corresponding pinacols.