Synthesis of Oxygen-17 Labeled Alcohols Via Organoborane Reactions

Abstract
Oxygen-17 enriched alcohols play an increasingly important role in chemical, biological, and medical research1. Traditionally these reagents are prepared via hydrolysis of a suitable acetal or ketal with oxygen-17 labeled water followed by reduction of the oxygen labeled carbonyl compounds2. This sequence produces good yields of volatile, unsubstituted alcohols but is of limited use in the preparation of materials containing reducible or hydrolyzable functional groups.