The Clemmensen Reduction allows the deoxygenation of aldehydes or ketones, to produce the corresponding hydrocarbon.
The substrate must be stable to strong acid. The Clemmensen Reduction is complementary to the Wolff-Kishner Reduction, which is run under strongly basic conditions. Acid-labile molecules should be reduced by the Wolff-Kishner protocol.
Mechanism
The reduction takes place at the surface of the zinc catalyst. In this reaction, alcohols are not postulated as intermediates, because subjection of the corresponding alcohols to these same reaction conditions does not lead to alkanes. The following proposal employs the intermediacy of zinc carbenoids to rationalize the mechanism of the Clemmensen Reduction:
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