PREPARATION OF HEXAHYDROISOQUINOLINES FROM DIHYDROISOQUINOLINES

摘要

The present invention is directed to processes for the synthesis of morph inans. In particular, a process for the asymmetric reduction of an imine moi ety in a 3,4-dihydroisoquinoline to produce a tetrahydroisoquinoline, follow ed by a Birch reduction to produce a hexahydroisoquinoline. In various embod iments, the 3,4-dihydroisoquinoline contains a phenol moiety protected with a labile protecting group. In other embodiments, the imine reduction reactio n mixture contains silver tetrafluoroborate.