The objective of this work is to develop new catalysts for the reduction and/or interconversion of a number of common functional groups. It is intended that these catalysts will be inexpensive, easy to prepare in an in situ manner and will be highly efficient. In many instances, we believe that these catalytic systems will be more effective, more economical, and safer and will generate less waste, particularly when utilized on a moderate to large scale, than those currently employed. Examples of some of the transformations we seek to execute catalytically include: 1) The reduction of esters to alcohols; 2) The reduction of lactones to diols and to lactols; 3) The reduction of esters to aldehydes; 4) The conversion of amides and lactams to enamines; 5) The reduction of amides to amines; 6) The transformation of amides to aldehydes; 7) The asymmetric reduction of imines to amines; 8) The enantioselective reductions of ketones to silyl ethers; 9) The conversion of oxindoles to indoles and butenolides to furans; 10) The conversion of carboxylic acids to alcohols and to aldehydes; and 11) The conversion of nitriles into aldehydes; The availability of efficient catalytic methods for these transformations will be of great use to synthetic organic and medicinal chemists. As such, these catalysts should see use in both academic and industrial laboratories. An additionally important feature of the proposed work is that it utilizes a different type of chemistry than that employed in existing systems.
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