In lab I made a Luche reduction of Pulegone to form cis-pulegol.
I tried to use the Felkin-Aln-Eisenstein model to explain the stereochemistry of the reaction. But as I tried to draw the models neither the boat or the chair (is this the proper names for the two conformations in English?
) conformation had the most electronegative group (the CH(CH
3)
2 group) perpendicular to the C=O pi-system.
Is there another model that should be applied for cyclic ketones? Or are the models not applicable for reductions since the Nu
- is a small hydride (H
-).
Thank you for any help/comments.