Reduction Reactions

Historically, chemical transformations in which hydrogen was gained or oxygen was lost were termed "reduction reactions".

The modern chemical definition of reduction is when a compound gains one or more electrons. It is therefore the opposite of oxidation, where a compound loses one or more electrons.

One of the earliest named reactions featuring reduction is the Tishchenko reaction, named after the Russian organic chemist Vyacheslav Evgen'evich Tishchenko. This reaction is still industrially relevant today as it is used to convert acetaldehyde into the commercially important solvent ethyl acetate.

• Clemmensen reduction
• Luche reduction
• Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley reduction
• Staudinger reaction
• Wolff-Kishner reduction

• Birch reduction
• Corey-Bakshi-Shibata reduction
• Eschweiler-Clarke methylation
• Midland Alpine borane reduction
• Noyori asymmetric hydrogenation
• Stephen aldehyde synthesis
• Tishchenko reaction