Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.130, No.4, 1136-1136, 2008
A ring size-selective reduction of lactones using Sml(2) and H2O
The Sml(2)-H2O reducing systems shows complete selectivity for six-membered lactones over other classes of lactone and esters. Experimental and computational studies suggest that the origin of the selectivity lies in the initial electron-transfer to the lactone carbonyl.