Aminoborohydrides. 11. Facile reduction of N-alkyl lactams to the corresponding amines using lithium aminoborohydrides

[GRAPHICS] Various five and six membered N-alkyl lactams were reduced to the correspon ding cyclic amines using lithium N,N-dialkylaminoborohydrides (LAB), Most o f the reductions were essentially complete after refluxing in THF for 2 h, The cyclic amine products were easily isolated after an aqueous workup in v ery good to excellent yields. It is possible to selectively reduce most fun ctional groups, such as esters, in the presence of a lactam using LAB reage nts.