Stereoselective Reductions of 3-Substituted Cyclobutanones: A Comparison between Experiment and Theory

The stereoselective reduction of carbonyls is of key importance in the total synthesis of natural products and in medicinal chemistry. Nevertheless, models for rationalizing the stereoselectivity of the hydride reductions of cyclobutanones toward cyclobutanols are largely lacking, unlike cyclohexanone reductions. In order to elucidate the factors that control the stereoselectivity of these reductions, we have investigated the effect of the reaction temperature, solvent, substituent, and type of reducing agent using a synergistic experimental-computational approach. On the experimental side, the hydride reduction of 3-substituted cyclobutanones was proven to be highly selective for the formation of cis alcohol (>90%), irrespective of the size of the hydride reagent. The pronounced selectivity can be further enhanced by lowering the reaction temperature or decreasing the solvent polarity. On the computational side, density functional theory and noncovalent interaction analysis reveal that torsional strain plays a major role in the preference for the antifacial hydride approach, consistent with the Felkin-Anh model. In the presence of the benzyloxy substituent, the high selectivity for the cis isomer is also driven by repulsive electrostatic interactions in the case of a syn-facial hydride attack. The computed cis/trans ratios are in good agreement with the experimental ones and thus show the potential of computational chemistry for predicting and rationalizing the stereoselectivity of hydride reductions of cyclobutanones.