Birch Reduction - Modifications of The Birch Reduction

Modifications of The Birch Reduction

Since liquid ammonia has to be condensed into the flask and has to evaporate overnight after the reaction is complete, the whole procedure can be quite troublesome and time-consuming. However, alternative solvents have been employed, such as THF as well as a mixture of n-propylamine and ethylenediamine, both with comparable results. The latter one actually is a modification of the Benkeser Reaction, which in its original forms tends to reduce naphthalene all the way to octahydro- and decahydronaphthalene.

This reduction of naphthalene to isotetralin (1,4,5,8-tetrahydronaphthalene) produces some tetralin (1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalene) as byproduct, as is the case with the regular Birch reduction.

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