Reductive cleavage of N-O bonds in hydroxylamines and hydroxamic acid derivatives using samarium diiodide

An efficient process for the reductive cleavage of N-O bonds using samarium diiodide is detailed for a variety of structural types to define the scope and limitations of the method. The reduction is shown to be compatible with base sensitive substrates such as trifluoroacetamide derivatives, which cannot be reduced satisfactorily using aluminum amalgam or sodium amalgam. Direct quenching of the reduction mixture with acylating agents is demonstrated to provide high yields of protected amines in a one-pot process from the N-O derivatives. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.