Does Nabh4 Affect Esters

What it’s used for: Sodium borohydride is a good reducing agent. … By itself, it will generally not reduce esters, carboxylic acids, or amides (although it will reduce acyl chlorides to alcohols).

Which is not reduced by NaBH4?

NaBH4 is effective reducing agent for the reduction of aldehydes, ketones and acyl chloride to alcohol but it cannot reduce esters, carboxylic acids and amides.

Why is NaBH4 preferred over LiAlH4?

The key difference between LiAlH4 and NaBH4 is that LiAlH4 can reduce esters, amides and carboxylic acids whereas NaBH4 cannot reduce them. … But LiAlH4 is a very strong reducing agent than NaBH4 because the Al-H bond in the LiAlH4 is weaker than the B-H bond in NaBH4. This makes the Al-H bond less stable.