Catalyst-free chemoselective reduction of the carbon–carbon double bond in conjugated alkenes with Hantzsch esters in water

Syntheses of 2‐Benzylbenzofuran Derivatives and 2‐Aryl‐nitro­chroman Derivatives from Nitro­alkene Precursors

“…To implement our plan for the synthesis of benzylbenzofuran derivatives, we initially synthesized various β‐phenyl‐nitroethane derivatives 1 from the corresponding β‐nitrostyrenes by reduction with either NaBH 4 14a or Hantzsch dihydropyridine 14b. The β‐phenyl‐nitroethanes 1 were then treated with different substituted salicylaldehydes 2 to furnish the corresponding nitroalkenes 3 in the presence of KF and Me 2 NH · HCl (Table 1).…”

Advances in the reduction of quinolines to 1,2,3,4‐tetrahydroquinolines

“…Hantzsch esters have newly been employed as a hopeful biomimetic hydrogen source in transfer hydrogenation reactions by using organocatalytic reaction process mainly focus after 2004 [104–117].…”

Base-Promoted Cascade Approach for the Preparation of Reduced Knoevenagel Adducts Using Hantzsch Esters as Reducing Agent in Water

“…Very recently, we reported the first example of catalyst-free transfer hydrogenation of the C=C of Knoevenagel condensation products with Hantzsch ester in water. 7 We found a series of alkenes conjugated with strong electron-withdrawing groups such as nitrile, ester, and nitro could be reduced to the corresponding products in water with excellent yields. With this catalyst and organic solvent-free method in hand, we started to evaluate whether it could be used to develop more useful processes to assemble simple and readily available precursor molecules into bioactive products.…”