Mozingo reduction

The Mozingo reduction, also known as Mozingo reaction or thioketal reduction, is a chemical reaction capable of fully reducing a ketone or aldehyde to the corresponding alkane. The reaction scheme is as follows:

The ketone or aldehyde is activated by conversion to dithioketal or dithioacetal by reaction with a dithiol. The thioketal/dithioketal is then hydrogenolyzed using Raney nickel. Raney nickel is converted irreversibly to nickel sulfide. This method is milder than either the Clemmensen or Wolff-Kishner reductions, which employ strongly acidic or basic conditions, respectively, that might interfere with other functional groups.