The bakerʹs yeast-mediated reduction of conjugated methylene groups in an organic solvent

The bakerʹs yeast-mediated reduction of a series of conjugated methylene compounds was conducted in a petroleum ether reaction system. The methylene ketone, 3-phenyl-3-buten-2-one (1), was stereoselectively reduced to (R)-3-phenyl-2-butanone; no reduction of the ketone carbonyl was observed. Reduction of 2-phenyl-2-propenenitrile (7) also occurred stereoselectively to give (R)-2-phenylpropanenitrile (8) in good yield. The yeast mediated reduction of the methylene aldehyde, 2-phenyl-2-propenal (3), gave a mixture of products arising from reduction of both the methylene and carbonyl groups; stereoselective reduction of the methylene group gives (R)-2-phenylpropanal (6) which is rapidly reduced to (R)-2-phenyl-1-propanol (5), whereas reduction of the carbonyl gives 2-phenyl-2-propen-1-ol (4) which is slowly reduced to racemic (5).