Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley Reduction

About Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley Reduction

When carbonyl compounds are heated with aluminum isopropoxide in an isopropanol solution, they are reduced to alcohols, and isopropoxide is oxidized to acetone, which can be easily removed by distillation. Aldehydes are reduced to primary alcohols and ketones to secondary alcohols. This method is generally used for the reduction of ketones to secondary alcohols. The reducing agent employed in the reaction is a specific reagent, used for reducing ketones or aldehydes in presence of reducible functional groups like double bond, nitro group etc.

Mechanism of Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley Reduction

This reagent reduces only the carbonyl group, keeping other groups untouched.

The reverse of this reaction is called Oppenauer oxidation, in which alcohols are oxidized to carbonyl compounds. Primary alcohols are oxidized to aldehydes and ketones are obtained from secondary alcohols. 

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