Deoxygenation of aliphatic acetate derivatives using electrogenerated organic amalgams

An electrochemical deoxygenation reaction of aliphatic acetates has been developed, using electrogenerated organic amalgams (R4N-Hg). This methodology led us to obtain the deoxygenated product and the alcohol in a 1:1 ratio with total transformation of the starting compound. Examples using the acetates of sarsasapogenin, diosgenin, 16-dehydro-pregnanolone and argentatine A, show the applications and some limitations of this electrochemical reaction.