Acetic Acid → (E,E,Z)-7-Hydroxymethyl-3,11,15-trimethyl-2,6,10,14-hexadecatetraen-1-ol

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

In 125 ml of anhydrous tetrahydrofuran was suspended 18 g of (E)-4-methyl-6-acetoxy-4-hexen-1-yltriphenylphosphonium iodide, and to this suspension was added dropwise two molar equivalents of a n-butyllithium-hexane solution at -20° C. in a stream of nitrogen. The resulting mixture was stirred at -20° C. for one hour and to this was further added 8.4 g of (Z)-1,1-diethoxy-6,10-dimethyl-5,9-undecadien-2-one (prepared in Referential example 3) in 25 ml of anhydrous tetrahydrofuran. The mixture was then stirred at room temperature for 3 hours and, after addition of ice water, extracted with n-hexane, and from the extract was obtained an oil. The oil was treated with a sodium hydroxide solution and acetic acid and reduced with 150 mg of sodium borohydride in the same manner as in Example 13, yielding 3.0 g of a mixture of the (E,Z,Z) and (E,E,Z) isomers.

Provenance & Evidence