Reduction of amino acids

There are many ways to reduce amino acids to amino alcohols; using sodium borohydride and iodine in THF is an excellent process. This methodology is not only nonexpensive and safety perspective, but the workup is much easier (compared to LiAlH4).

Iodine oxidizes the hydride giving a mole of H2 and generating BH3 in situ. All that borane actually the stuff that reduces the acid to alcohol.

Organic Synthesis: Problems

Here are some links to the best organic synthesis problems on the web (some even supply answers) 

Tohru Fukuyama's Group: http://www.f.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~fukuyama/index-e.htm 

Steven Ley's Group: http://leygroup.ch.cam.ac.uk/Education/education.htm 

David Evan's Group: http://daecr1.chem.harvard.edu/problems/