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Reduction Of N-Protected Amino Acids To Amino Alcohols And Subsequent Re-Oxidation To Original N-Protected Amino Acids, Val S. Goodfellow

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

For the synthesis of certain molecules of interest in Dr. Richard Olsen's laboratory it was necessary to produce N-protected a-amino alcohols from N-protected amino acids and subsequently, after further synthesis steps, to oxidize the hydroxyl functionalities of these molecules back to carboxylic acids. A number of methods are known for the reduction of carboxylic acids to alcohols; several methods are also reported in the chemical literature for the oxidation of alcohols to carboxylic acids. The problem in finding a suitable general method, is that the amino acid side chains affect the re activity and chemistry differently in each specific case. …