Lithium or potassium can sometimes be used instead of sodium in this reaction and this reaction mechanism provides an alternative to catalytic hydrogenation, which usually reduces all the way to cyclohexane.
Application of this reaction allows the synthesis of stereochemically pure crystalline 19-norprogesterone from Estranes, a class of oral contraceptives. This reaction is important in the process of coal liquefaction, as a cyclic olefin known as isotetralin, an efficient converter of coal into THF solubles, can only be created feasibly by performing this reaction on naphthalene. Lithium or potassium can sometimes be used instead of sodium in this reaction and this reaction mechanism provides an alternative to catalytic hydrogenation, which usually reduces all the way to cyclohexane. Using sodium and an alcohol in a solution of liquid ammonia, for 10 points, name this reaction that reduces aromatic rings to 1,4-cyclohexadienes reported by its eponymous Australian chemist.
Application of this reaction allows the synthesis of stereochemically pure crystalline 19-norprogesterone from Estranes, a class of oral contraceptives.
Birch Reduction