All Organic Chemistry Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #5 : Organic Reducing Agents
Which of the following can be reduced when mixed with ?
is a very powerful reducing agent that works to reduce almost any carbonyl compound. is an amide and the only carbonyl compound given of the answer choices.
Example Question #6 : Organic Reducing Agents
What reagents are needed to satisfy the given reaction?
This problem requires that we convert our ketone group into a chlorine. However, this cannot be done directly, and requires multiple steps.
We begin by reducing the ketone with to form an alcoxide. The alcoxide undergoes workup (the process whereby a negatively charged oxygen gains a proton) via , depicted above as simply "". We now have a secondary alcohol. From here, we can simply use the reagent to convert the alcohol into the desired chlorine.
Example Question #1 : Using Lithium Aluminum Hydride
What is the product of the given reaction?
IV
I
III
V
II
IV
First step: esterification
Second step: lithium aluminum hydride reduction
Third step: neutralization to form primary alcohol
Fourth step: SN2 reaction to form final chlorinated product
Example Question #2 : Using Lithium Aluminum Hydride
What is the result of the following reaction?
All of the above
Lithium Aluminum Hydride is a potent reducing agent; it has the ability to turn esters and aldehydes into primary alcohols, and ketones into secondary alcohols. The starting material is an aldehyde, so the correct answer is thus a primary alcohol ONLY.