Stereospecific Reduction of 2,3-Epoxybutanoic Acid. Synthesis of (R,R)- and (S,S)-3-Hydroxybutanoic-2-d Acid and S-tert-Butyl 3-Acetoxythiobutanoate-2-d

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/jo00336a003

Reduction of 2,3-epoxybutanoic acid (2) with sodium borodeuteride provides a stereospecific synthesis of 3-hydroxybutanoic-2-d acid (3).This route should be of general utility in stereospecific syntheses of metabolically important 3-hydroxyalkanoic acid derivatives labeled at C-2.Metal ions seem to play an important role in the relative rates of nucleophilic attack at the α- and β-carbon atoms of 2.Compound 3 was converted to S-tert-butyl 3-acetoxythiobutanoate-2-d (1) with virtually no H-D exchange; the mixed anhydride method proved more effective than the DCC method for the thioester synthesis.