Reduction of aldehydes and ketones with pyridine-borane in trifluoroacetic acid was examined. Symmetric ethers were obtained by the reduction of aldehydes ; the combination of an aldehyde and alcohol resulted in the formation of an unsymmetric ether under the same reduction conditions. Aryl ketones and aryl alcohols were reduced directly to the corresponding arenes, while dialkyl ketones were reduced to the alcohols. Alkyl alcohols were not reduced and were recovered intact.
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Kikugawa et al. (1979) studied this question.