Off the top of my head... (http://www.evilshare.com/99034fe4-deca-102b-bdf3-0007e90cfb90)

Probably not the easiest or best way, but it should work at least...

How would you get the double bond to move? I considered it, but its conjugated with the carbonyl so i imagine its nice and happy.

Yeah, it does look like it wouldn't move, but you can get it to flip out of conjugation - irradiation is more effective than the thermal isomerisation...

Aiight, so I thought about making a thread for this, but I was hoping not to, so-

*bump*

Anywho, so I'm hoping for some spoonfeeding, rather than doing more reading, regarding reducing agents. So, lets say SWIM has a large quantity of 4oxobutanoic acid and wanted to reduce that =O to an -OH. But, for lack of borohydride or LiAlH4, what else could be used? A birch seems like overkill, as well as being fairly difficult to set up, not to mention I don't even know if it would work. What I'm hoping is that there's some cheap, really OTC reducing agent, that I just don't know about.

BTW, idea: Is there any way to OH the carbonyl w/ acids? Like alkenes bust up with some hydronium and get OH groups. Or with H2 gas plus a catalyst of some kind?

Yea, I'm aware this is a little bit of a bogus post, but I'm really hopin' someone can help me out.

^There aren't too many simple carbonyl reductions that don't convert all the way to an alkane, but I found one:

http://www.jbc.org/cgi/reprint/35/2/281.pdf

...and I'll be looking for more later tonight.

^There aren't too many simple carbonyl reductions that don't convert all the way to an alkane,
Bummer.
but I found one:

http://www.jbc.org/cgi/reprint/35/2/281.pdf
Cool. Read through it. I was liking the zinc dust route. Readily available and whatnot. I guess the following question would be "is there a more OTC substitute for GAA?" Then again, I may be getting a little ahead of myself. A key thing I've not thought about is the possible toxicity of the oxo precurser. Depending on how much comes through with the end product that might turn out to be a problem.
...and I'll be looking for more later tonight.
Neat. I'm going to try and do the same.

EDIT: Did some reading, and wow, turned up some shit. 4-oxobutanoic acid is AKA Succinic semialdehyde. It, in and of itself might partially metabolize to GHB: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succinic_semialdehyde_dehydrogenase_deficiency
and is related as such: http://www.ceri.com/ghb-a67.htm

As for some other random health effects, I'll do more reading eventually, but considering that MSG ($6/kilo) is just some muriatic acid and a spot of bleach away from this stuff, I'd say that's something to start on.

Also, I mentioned before about NaBH4 being not OTC enough, but according to http://www.cem.msu.edu/~reusch/VirtualText/aldket1.htm#rx2a it would perfectly do the trick. So, assuming one can set up an NaOH cell (for metal Na) then combining it with Boric acid (roach killer or something, sold in big bottles at dollar stores nation wide) and MeOH (heet ice removal shit or something like that), according to http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:1blurJp7gk8J:www.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/pdfs/review_chemical_processes.pdf+manufacture+Sodium+b orohydride&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us that would do the trick. Though, that source isn't very descriptive, so there might be (and probably is) more to it.

Cool. Read through it. I was liking the zinc dust route. Readily available and whatnot. I guess the following question would be "is there a more OTC substitute for GAA?" Then again, I may be getting a little ahead of myself. A key thing I've not thought about is the possible toxicity of the oxo precurser. Depending on how much comes through with the end product that might turn out to be a problem.

Neat. I'm going to try and do the same.

EDIT: Did some reading, and wow, turned up some shit. 4-oxobutanoic acid is AKA Succinic semialdehyde. It, in and of itself might partially metabolize to GHB: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succinic_semialdehyde_dehydrogenase_deficiency
and is related as such: http://www.ceri.com/ghb-a67.htm
It only will metabolize to GHB if you have that disorder, otherwise it metabolizes to succinic acid, which is not harmful at all (but not very useful either).

Also, I mentioned before about NaBH4 being not OTC enough, but according to http://www.cem.msu.edu/~reusch/VirtualText/aldket1.htm#rx2a it would perfectly do the trick. So, assuming one can set up an NaOH cell (for metal Na) then combining it with Boric acid (roach killer or something, sold in big bottles at dollar stores nation wide) and MeOH (heet ice removal shit or something like that), according to http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:1blurJp7gk8J:www.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/pdfs/review_chemical_processes.pdf+manufacture+Sodium+b orohydride&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us that would do the trick. Though, that source isn't very descriptive, so there might be (and probably is) more to it.

Did I just hear borohydride from raid? Sounds like too much work, IMO, but if you do your homework and follow through on each of the steps you could have your own borohydride factory producing this shit for just a few dollars a gram. I'd do it but I am way too busy with other matters right now.

It only will metabolize to GHB if you have that disorder, otherwise it metabolizes to succinic acid, which is not harmful at all (but not very useful either).
At least it's not toxic.
Did I just hear borohydride from raid? Sounds like too much work, IMO, but if you do your homework and follow through on each of the steps you could have your own borohydride factory producing this shit for just a few dollars a gram. I'd do it but I am way too busy with other matters right now.
Oy, I have too much shit on my plate as well. I will do what I can. Also, I need to do reading on strecker so as not to oxidize the shit outa the Glu. Also, getting rid of impurities in homemade borohydride as well as reduction byproducts. Could be more shit than it's worth. Who knows, but I'll do research eventually.