Citric Acid → rel-(1R,3S)-3-Hydroxycyclohexanemethanol

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Reaction Steps

10 g of 6-oxabicyclo[3.2.1]octan-7-one are dissolved in 300 ml of tetrahydrofuran, and 160 ml of a 1M solution of lithium aluminum hydride in tetrahydrofuran are added with ice cooling. After 30 minutes of stirring at room temperature, saturated ammonium chloride solution is added and the pH is adjusted to neutral by addition of a 5% strength solution of citric acid. The tetrahydrofuran is removed under reduced pressure and the residue is extracted three times with in each case 150 ml of ethyl acetate. The combined organic phases are dried over MgSO4 and the solvent is then removed under reduced pressure. This gives 10.5 g of (1S,3R)/(1R,3S)-3-hydroxymethylcyclohexanol as a colorless oil. C7H14O2 (130.13), Rf(ethyl acetate)=0.14.

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