Bouveault–Blanc reduction

Bouveault-Blanc reduction
Named after	Louis Bouveault Gustave Louis Blanc
Reaction type	Organic redox reaction
Identifiers
Organic Chemistry Portal	bouveault-blanc-reduction
RSC ontology ID	RXNO:0000119

The Bouveault–Blanc reduction is a chemical reaction in which an ester is reduced to primary alcohols using absolute ethanol and sodium metal.

The Bouveault-Blanc reduction

This reaction is an inexpensive and large-scale alternative to lithium aluminium hydride reduction of esters.

Reaction mechanism

Sodium metal is a single-electron reducing agent, meaning the sodium metal will transfer electrons one at a time. Four sodium atoms are required to fully reduce each ester to alcohols. Ethanol serves as a proton source.

The mechanism of the Bouveault-Blanc reduction

See also

• Acyloin condensation - The reductive coupling of esters, using sodium, to yield an α-hydroxyketone
• Akabori amino-acid reaction - The reduction of amino acid esters, by sodium, to yield aldehydes
• Birch reduction - For the reduction of alkenes using sodium
• Bouveault aldehyde synthesis - Another organometallic reaction by Bouveault where a Grignard reagent is converted to an aldehyde

External links

• Animation of the Bouveault–Blanc reduction

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