Author's Organization：Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Tokyo Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Tokyo Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Tokyo
Eleven kinds of ethyl 2-substituted-3-phenylpropionates (Ia∼k) were reduced with sodium borohydride under a similar reaction condition and the effects of the α-substituents on the reduction were examined. Some esters (Ia∼c, e, f, j, k) were hydrolyzed with alkali. The obtained data of hydrolysis rate constants were roughly parallel to those of ester reductions. These results may be explained by considering both inductive and steric effects of the α-substituents.
