Cerium Chloride Catalyzed Reduction of Aromatic Esters to the Corresponding Alcohols with Sodium Borohydride in Water

The aldehydes and ketones can be reduced readily by NaBH4 without any modification. NaBH4 can not reduce esters and their derivatives under ambient conditions, reflux and standing overn ight are necessary. However, the activity of NaBH4 can be enhanced by CeCl3.7H2O. In this article, a general, highly efficient and mild methodology for obtaining alcohol compounds by reduction of the corresponding esters with NaBH4 in the presence of a catalytic amount of CeCl3.7H2O in water is described.