Chemistry of xanthorrhizol: synthesis of several bisabolane sesquiterpenoids from xanthorrhizol

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/j.tetlet.2006.11.051

(-)-Xanthorrhizol (1) isolated from the rhizomes of Curcuma xanthorrhiza has been transformed to several bisabolane-type sesquiterpenoids, in a stereoselective manner. 10R- and 10S-10,11-dihydro-10,11-dihydroxyxanthorrhizols (2, 3), (-)-curcuquinone (4),

Full text of DOI:10.1016/j.tetlet.2006.11.051

Tetrahedron Letters 48 (2007) 457–460
Chemistry of xanthorrhizol: synthesis of several bisabolane
sesquiterpenoids from xanthorrhizol
Hasnah M. Sirat,* Ngai Mun Hong and Muhd Haffiz Jauri
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 80310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
Received 22 September 2006; revised 30 October 2006; accepted 9 November 2006
Abstract—(ꢀ)-Xanthorrhizol (1) isolated from the rhizomes of Curcuma xanthorrhiza has been transformed to several bisabolane-
type sesquiterpenoids, in a stereoselective manner. 10R- and 10S-10,11-dihydro-10,11-dihydroxyxanthorrhizols (2, 3), (ꢀ)-curcuqui-
none (4), (ꢀ)-curcuhydroquinone (5), helibisabonol A (7) and allylic alcohol 8 have been prepared from xanthorrhizol in optically
active forms. All the routes involved a Sharpless AD to introduce the stereogenic centre at C-10.
Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
(ꢀ)-Xanthorrhizol (1), the major component of the
essential oil of Curcuma xanthorrhiza, is a bisabolane-
type sesquiterpenoid containing a stereogenic centre at
the benzylic position. It was first isolated in 1970 and
its absolute configuration was assigned as R.1 With
regards to its bioactivity, it has been shown that xan-
thorrhizol (1) exhibits antibacterial activity against
Streptococcus mutans (MIC = 2 lg/mL).2 Although nine
syntheses have been reported for xanthorrhizol,1b,3 the
chemistry of 1 has not been explored fully. Aguilar
et al. prepared several simple derivatives of xanthorrhi-
zol, which displayed mild antifungal activity, but did not
show cytotoxic activity towards certain human cell
lines.4 Thus, it is of interest to study the chemistry of
1 in order to exploit the readily availability of xanthor-
rhizol as a precursor for the preparation other useful
compounds.
isolated as minor constituents from the Mexican medic-
inal plant, Iostephane heterophylla, using bioguided frac-
tionation.5 Curcuquinone (4) and curcuhydroquinone
(5) were isolated from the Caribbean gorgonian Pseudo-
pterogorgia rigida and show antibacterial properties
against Staphylococcus aureus and Vibrio anguillarum.6
Helibisabonol A (7), is an allelochemical isolated by
´
Macıas and co-workers from the CH2Cl2 extracts of
dried sunflower leaves (Helianthus annuus L. cv. Peredo-
vick).7 The allylic alcohol derivative of xanthorrhizol,
2-methyl-5-(4S-hydroxy-1R,5-dimethylhex-5-enyl)-phe-
nol (8) is a bisabolane-type sesquiterpenoid found in the
Mexican medicinal plant, I. heterophylla8 and recently
has been isolated from the resins of the African plant,
Commiphora kua. Manguro et al. reported that allylic
alcohol 8 inhibited the growth of the plant pathogenic
fungus Cladosporium cucumerinum.9
We noted that xanthorrhizol (1) is a potential chiral
starting material for the synthesis of bisabolane-type
sesquiterpenoids. Compound 1 can be converted to
several naturally occurring sesquiterpenoids, namely
(10R/10S)-10,11-dihydro-10,11-dihydroxyxanthorrhizols
(2, 3), (ꢀ)-curcuquinone (4), (ꢀ)-curcuhydroquinone (5)
and helibisabonol A (7). Compounds 2 and 3 were
To date, no enantioselective synthesis has been reported
for triols 2 and 3, helibisabonol A (7) and allylic alcohol
8. There are literature reports on the synthesis of curcu-
quinone (2) and curcuhydroquinone (3) in racemic
form10 and only a few reports on the optically active
forms.3i,11 In this paper, we report the stereoselective
syntheses of compounds 2–7, (7R,10R)-helibisabonol A
(21), methyl 9 and benzyl 10 ethers and the naturally
occurring allylic alcohol 8, starting from naturally
occurring xanthorrhizol (1).
Keywords: Xanthorrhizol; (10R/10S)-10,11-Dihydro-10,11-dihydroxy-
xanthorrhizols; (ꢀ)-Curcuquinone; (ꢀ)-Curcuhydroquinone; Helibi-
sabonol A; Sharpless AD.
Hydrodistillation of the chopped fresh rhizomes of C.
xanthorrhiza yielded the essential oil in 1.14% yield.
The essential oil was subjected to vacuum liquid chro-
matography to give xanthorrhizol in 20% yield. It
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +60 7 5534319; fax: +60 7 5566162;
e-mail: hasnah@kimia.fs.utm.my
Present address: Department of Chemistry, 3 Science Drive 3,
National University of Singapore 117543, Singapore.
0040-4039/$ - see front matter Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.tetlet.2006.11.051

458
H. M. Sirat et al. / Tetrahedron Letters 48 (2007) 457–460
14
1
derivative. The absolute configuration of the newly
OH
formed stereogenic centre was deduced to be S by the
modified Mosher method.13 Diol 12 was treated with
aqueous sodium bicarbonate to give triol 2. The overall
yield of 2 was 30%. The diastereomer of 2, (7R,10R)-3
was obtained in 33% overall yield, following the same
sequence of reactions except using AD-mix-b instead.
OH
3
R
10
OH
2 C-10 =
3 C-10 =
OH
15
7
10
1
S
R
Triols 2 and 3, have also been synthesised by employing
a benzyl group as a protecting group. The approach is
similar to the acetate. Xanthorrhizol (1) was converted
into benzyloxy derivative 14 without much difficulty.
Treatment of 14 with AD-mix-a under the same condi-
tions as above gave diol 15 in 53% yield. On the other
hand, when benzyloxy derivative 14 was subjected to
an AD reaction with AD-mix-b, compound 16 was
obtained in 29% yield. Catalytic hydrogenolysis (Pd/C)
of both diols 15 and 16 gave triols 2 and 3 in 96% and
95% yields, respectively. The overall yield was 26% for
15 and 14% for 16.
OH
O
2
HO
O
1
4
5
OR
OR
12
RO
OH
OH
8 R = H
9 R = Me
OH
6 R = Bn
7 R = H
10 R = Bn
The spectroscopic and physical properties of synthetic 2
and 314 were similar with those of the natural products
except for the optical rotation of 3. The optical rotation
of synthetic (7R,10R)-(3) was +3.33 (c 0.30, MeOH),
while naturally occurring 3 (obtained from b-cellulase
hydrolysis of xanthorrhizol glycoside) had the opposite
sign and was much larger, [a]D ꢀ57 (c 0.30, MeOH).5
proved difficult to isolate 1 in high purity, but this posed
no problem because the subsequent reaction steps facil-
itated isolation.
The synthetic route to triols 2 and 3 is illustrated in
Scheme 1. First, xanthorrhizol (1) was protected as its
acetate (11). The acetate group served as a protecting
group and at the same time facilitated compound purifi-
cation. Thus, pure 11 was easily obtained after column
chromatography albeit starting with approximately
70% pure xanthorrhizol. Acetate 11 was subjected to
an asymmetric dihydroxylation (AD) reaction employ-
ing AD-mix-a12 in the presence of methanesulfonamide
in aqueous tert-butanol at 0 °C to give diol 12 in 62%
yield. The diastereomeric excess of 12 was >98% as
Another differences between synthetic 2 and 3 and natu-
ral 2 and 3 were the coupling constants of 10-H. The
coupling constants reported in the literature [d 3.37
(dd, J 12.6, 2.7 Hz) for natural 2, and d 3.30 (dd, J
13.9, 4.8 Hz)] for natural 3 were larger than those of
the synthetic products [d 3.37 (br d, J 10.2 Hz) for syn-
thetic 2 and d 3.30 (dd, J 9.9, 2.1 Hz) for synthetic 3].
However, it is interesting to note that the coupling con-
stants of the oxymethine proton of closely related com-
pounds 17 and 18 were J 10.0, 2.0 Hz and J 9.6, 2.8 Hz,
respectively,15 which are closer to our values. Based on
these comparisons, the J values for the oxymethine
groups of synthetic triols 2 and 3 are in agreement with
the reported values of compounds 17 and 18.15
1
determined by H NMR analysis of its (S)-MTPA [a-
methoxy-a-(trifluoromethyl)phenylacetic acid] ester
OR
MOMO
OH
OH
f
S
R
b
OH
R
OR
OH
12 R = Ac
17 R = H
18 R = Br
15 R = Bn
2 R = H
d
2 R = H
OR
The synthetic route to helibisabonol A (7) is summarised
in Scheme 2. Treatment of xanthorrhizol with Fremy’s
salt (potassium nitrosulfonate) under buffered condi-
tions (pH 6.45) gave curcuquinone (4) {[a]D ꢀ4.58 (c
2.62, CHCl3); lit.6 [a]D ꢀ1.3 (c 2.62, CHCl3)}, which
was subsequently reduced to curcuhydroquinone (5)
{[a]D ꢀ48.3 (c 0.89, CHCl3); lit.11b [a]D ꢀ48.0 (c 2.78,
CHCl3)} by sodium dithionite. Curcuhydroquinone (5)
was isolated as white crystals, with a mp of 93–96 °C,
whereas it had been isolated and synthesised previously
as a colourless oil (on one occasion from Pseudoptero-
gorgia acerosa as white crystals, with a mp of
86–87 °C).16 The spectroscopic properties of 4 and 5
1
R = H
a
e
11 R = Ac
c
1
R = H
OH
f
R
R
14 R = Bn
OH
13 R = Ac
16 R = Bn
3 R = H
d
3 R = H
Scheme 1. Reagents and conditions: (a) Ac2O, py, rt, 72%; (b) AD-
mix-a, MeSO2NH2, t-BuOH/H2O (1:1), 0 °C, 62% (12), 53% (15); (c)
AD-mix-b, MeSO2NH2, t-BuOH/H2O (1:1), 0 °C, 65% (13), 29% (16);
(d) satd NaHCO3, MeOH/H2O (2:1), rt, 68% (2), 71% (3); (e) benzyl
bromide, K2CO3, acetone, reflux, 51%; (f), H2, Pd/C, MeOH, rt, 96%
(2), 95% (3).

H. M. Sirat et al. / Tetrahedron Letters 48 (2007) 457–460
459
OR
O
OR
a
b
d
1
RO
O
RO
c
OH
4
OH
6 R = Bn
7 R = H
5 R = H
19 R = Bn
f
e
OR
RO
OH
OH
R = Bn
R = H
20
21
f
Scheme 2. Reagents and conditions: (a) (KO3S)2NOÅ (Fremy’s salt), MeOH, NaH2PO4–Na2HPO4, pH 6, rt, 56%; (b) Na2S2O4, THF/H2O (3:2), rt,
90%; (c) benzyl bromide, K2CO3, acetone, reflux, 36%; (d) AD-mix-a, MeSO2NH2, t-BuOH/H2O (1:1), 0 °C, 92%; (e) AD-mix-b, MeSO2NH2,
t-BuOH/H2O (1:1), 0 °C, 40%; (f) H2, Pd/C, MeOH, rt, 84% (7), 92% (21).
were in good agreement with the literature data. Sequen-
OR1
OR1
OR
tial protection of 5 as its dibenzyloxy ether and asym-
metric dihydroxylation of the protected hydroquinone
(19) with AD-mix-a gave dibenzyloxy helibisabonol A
(6) in 92% yield from compound (5). The diastereomeric
excess was >98% [(S)-MTPA ester] and the absolute
configuration at C-10 in 6 was determined to be S based
on the modified Mosher’s method.13
e
c
OH
OR2
OR2
23 R1 = Me, R2 = H
24 R1 = Me, R2 = Ac
27 R1 = Bn, R2 = H
28 R1 = Bn, R2 = Ac
25 R1 = Me, R2 = Ac
9 R1 = Me, R2 = H
29 R1 = Bn, R2 = Ac
10 R1 = Bn, R2 = H
1 R = H
22 R = Me
d
d
a
b
f
1 R = H
26 R = Bn
f
The remaining synthetic task was the deprotection of the
benzyl groups to form helibisabonol A. Cleavage of the
benzyl groups by hydrogenolysis with H2 in the presence
of Pd/C as catalyst afforded helibisabonol A (7)17 in 24%
overall yield. The diastereomer of (7), (7R,10R) helibi-
sabonol A 21, white crystals, mp 64–67 °C, was obtained
following the same sequence of reactions, except AD-
mix-b was used instead.17
Scheme 3. Reagents and conditions: (a) MeI, K2CO3, acetone, reflux,
8 h, 65%; (b) benzyl bromide, K2CO3, acetone, reflux, 4 h, 51%; (c)
AD-mix-a, MeSO2NH2, t-BuOH/H2O (1:1), 0 °C, 91% (23), 53% (27);
(d) Ac2O, py, rt, 24 h, 99% (24), 60% (28); (e) MsCl, Et3N, DMAP,
CH2Cl2, 0 °C ! rt, 3.75 h, 47% (25), 36% (29); (f) K2CO3, MeOH, rt,
91% (9), 93% (10).
allylic alcohol 10, by implementing a similar sequence of
reactions as above.
Besides the preparation of natural products, we
attempted to convert xanthorrhizol to an unnatural
derivative, allylic alcohol 9. Compound 9 is the methyl
ether of the naturally occurring allylic alcohol 8. The
synthetic route to allylic alcohol 9 is illustrated in
Scheme 3. Xanthorrhizol was first converted to O-methyl-
xanthorrhizol (22) by treatment with MeI and K2CO3
in refluxing acetone. The protected compound 22 was
subjected to Sharpless AD employing AD-mix-a to give
methoxydiol 23 in 91% isolated yield with an ee >98%.
The absolute configuration at C-10 in 23 was assigned
as S based on the modified Mosher’s method.13 Meth-
oxydiol 23 was acetylated with acetic anhydride–pyri-
dine to give monoacetate 24 in a quantitative yield.
Dehydration of 24 was affected by treatment with meth-
anesulfonyl chloride, triethylamine and N,N-dimethyl-
aminopyridine (DMAP) to afford allylic acetate 25.
Completion of the reaction sequence was carried out
by hydrolysis of allylic acetate 25 with K2CO3 in meth-
anol to furnish allylic alcohol 9 in 91% yield [a]D ꢀ16.6
(c 1.34, CHCl3).18 This synthesis afforded allylic alcohol
9 in 25% overall yield, in five steps. In addition, xanthor-
rhizol (1) was also protected as benzyloxy derivative 26.
Compound 26 was converted to an unnatural derivative,
In conclusion, we have demonstrated that naturally
occurring (ꢀ)-xanthorrhizol (1) can be used as a precur-
sor for the synthesis of several other bisabolane-type
sesquiterpenoids, including the first enantioselective
syntheses of triols 2 and 3, facile and short syntheses
of (ꢀ)-curcuquinone (4), (ꢀ)-curcuhydroquinone (5),
helibisabonol A (7) and the epimer of helibisabonol A
(21), as well as syntheses of the unnatural allylic alcohols
9 and 10.
Acknowledgements
Financial support from IRPA, Ministry of Science,
Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), and Scientific
Allocation Grant Scheme (SAGA) from the Academy
Sciences of Malaysia is gratefully acknowledged. We
are grateful to Ibnu Sina Institute for Fundamental
Science Studies, UTM for the NMR facility and Profes-
sor Dr. Nordin Lajis for optical rotation measurements.
NMH also acknowledges the National Science Fellow-
ship awarded by MOSTI.

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H. M. Sirat et al. / Tetrahedron Letters 48 (2007) 457–460
(300 MHz, CDCl3) d 1.11 (3H, s, H-12), 1.14 (3H, s, H-13),
References and notes
1.22 (3H, d, J 6.9 Hz, H-15), 1.34 (2H, m, H-9 and H-90),
1.58 (1H, m, H-80), 1.85 (1H, m, H-8), 2.21 (3H, s, H-14),
2.61 (1H, sext, J 6.9 Hz, H-7), 3.30 (1H, dd, J 9.9, 2.1 Hz, H-
10), 6.62 (1H, d, J 1.8 Hz, H-2), 6.67 (1H, dd, J 7.8, 1.8 Hz,
H-6), 7.02 (1H, d, J 7.8 Hz, H-5); 13C NMR (75 MHz,
CDCl3) d 15.3 (C-14), 23.1 (C-15), 23.4 (C-12), 26.5 (C-13),
29.9 (C-9), 35.5 (C-8), 39.7 (C-7), 73.1 (C-11), 78.8 (C-10),
113.4 (C-2), 119.1 (C-6), 121.1 (C-4), 130.9 (C-5), 146.9 (C-
1), 153.8 (C-3); EIMS m/z 252 (11) [M+, C15H24O3], 234 (2)
[MꢀH2O]+, 216 (3), 194 (17), 175 (36), 161 (15), 148 (47),
135 (100), 121 (31), 109 (17), 91 (52), 77 (28).
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Rf = 0.16 (PE/Et2O = 1/4); [a]D ꢀ31.5 (c 0.30, MeOH); IR
1
(neat) 3416, 1652, 1452, 1202 cmꢀ1; H NMR (300 MHz,
C3D6O) d 0.97 (3H, s, H-12), 1.15 (3H, s, H-13), 1.18 (3H,
d, J 6.9 Hz, H-15), 1.36–1.49 (2H, m, H-9), 1.60 (1H, m,
H-8), 1.79 (1H, m, H-80), 2.09 (3H, s, H-14), 3.15 (1H,
sext, J 6.9 Hz, H-7), 3.72 (1H, dd, J 4.8, 8.1 Hz, H-10),
6.58 (1H, s, H-3), 6.62 (1H, s, H-6); 13C NMR (75 MHz,
C3D6O) d 14.8 (C-14), 20.8 (C-15), 22.4 (C-12), 25.5 (C-
13), 27.5 (C-9), 31.6 (C-7), 34.3 (C-8), 79.6 (C-11), 83.0 (C-
10), 113.1 (C-6), 117.4 (C-3), 121.8 (C-4), 131.2 (C-1),
147.4 (C-5), 148.4 (C-2).
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1.36–1.48 (2H, m, H-9), 1.62–1.79 (2H, m, H-8), 2.09 (3H,
s, H-14), 3.10 (1H, sext, J 6.9 Hz, H-7), 3.66 (1H, dd, J 3.9,
8.7 Hz, H-10), 6.58 (1H, s, H-3), 6.62 (1H, s, H-6); 13C
NMR (75MHz, C3D6O) d 15.0 (C-14), 20.7 (C-15), 22.4
(C-12), 25.5 (C-13), 27.4 (C-8), 34.6 (C-9), 32.1 (C-7), 79.7
(C-11), 83.5 (C-10), 113.0 (C-6), 117.3 (C-3), 121.6 (C-4),
131.1 (C-1), 147.1 (C-5), 148.3 (C-2).
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18. Analytical data for allylic alcohol (9): colourless oil;
Rf = 0.24 (PE/Et2O, 8/2); [a]D ꢀ16.6 (c 1.34, CHCl3); IR
(neat) 3382, 2936, 2868, 1612, 1583, 1500, 1457, 1414,
1255, 1135, 1043, 900, 853, 815 cmꢀ1; 1H NMR (300 MHz,
CDCl3) d 1.25 (3H, d, J 6.9 Hz, H-15), 1.39–1.64 (4H, m,
H-8, H-9), 1.66 (3H, t, J 1.2 Hz, H-13), 2.18 (3H, s, H-14),
2.66 (1H, sext, J 6.9 Hz, H-7), 3.83 (3H, s, –OMe), 4.03
(1H, m, H-10), 4.82 (1H, m, H-12b), 4.91 (1H, m, H-12a),
6.64 (1H, d, J 1.5 Hz, H-2), 6.68 (1H, dd, J 7.5, 1.5 Hz, H-
6), 7.04 (1H, dd, J 7.5, 0.6 Hz, H-5); EIMS m/z 248 (37)
[M+, C16H24O2], 230 (2) [MꢀH2O]+, 205 (4), 189 (5), 175
(4), 162 (100), 149 (100), 135 (47), 123 (41), 117 (19), 105
(16), 91 (51), 84 (6), 77 (20), 71 (26); HREIMS calcd for
C16H24O2 248.1776, found 248.1773.
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14. Analytical data for (7R,10S)-10,11-dihydro-10,11-dihydr-
oxyxanthorrhizol (2): Rf = 0.29 (PE/Et2O, 1/9); [a]D ꢀ64.7
(c 0.51, MeOH); IR (neat) 3361, 1619, 1589, 1260 cmꢀ1
;
1H NMR (300 MHz, CDCl3) d 1.08 (3 H, s, H-12), 1.15
(3H, s, H-13), 1.18 (1H, m, H-90), 1.23 (3H, d, J 6.9 Hz, H-
15), 1.40 (1H, m, H-9), 1.60 (1H, m, H-80), 1.86 (1H, m, H-
8), 2.21 (3H, s, H-14), 2.64 (1H, sext, J 6.9 Hz, H-7), 3.37
(1H, br d, J 10.2 Hz, H-10), 5.06 (1H, s, OH), 6.62 (1H, d,
J 1.8 Hz, H-2), 6.66 (1H, dd, J 7.8, 1.8 Hz, H-6), 7.02 (1H,
d, J 7.8 Hz, H-5); 13C NMR (75 MHz, CDCl3) d 15.4 (C-
14), 23.0 (C-12), 23.2 (C-15), 26.5 (C-13), 29.6 (C-9), 35.0
(C-8), 39.3 (C-7), 73.3 (C-11), 78.6 (C-10), 113.3 (C-2),
119.4 (C-6), 121.3 (C-4), 130.9 (C-5), 146.4 (C-1), 153.9 (C-
3); EIMS m/z 252 (29) [M+, C15H24O3], 234 (2), 216 (7),
194 (53), 175 (64), 161 (24), 148 (89), 135 (100), 121 (21),
109 (27), 91 (21), 77 (11), 67 (6), 59 (95).
For allylic alcohol (10): colourless oil; Rf = 0.55 (PE/Et2O,
2/3); IR (neat) 3403, 3066, 3030, 2926, 2865, 1649, 1610,
1582, 1510, 1453, 1419, 1378, 1308, 1254, 1161, 1132, 1025,
1
899, 850, 815 cmꢀ1; H NMR (300 MHz, CDCl3) d 1.26
(3H, d, J 6.9 Hz, H-15), 1.42 (2H, m, H-9), 1.58 (2H, m,
H-8), 1.68 (3H, s, H-13), 2.28 (3H, s, H-14), 2.69 (1H, sext,
J 6.9 Hz, H-7), 4.03 (1H, t, J 6 Hz, H-10), 4.84 (1H, m,
H-12b), 4.93 (1H, m, H-12a), 5.12 (2H, s, OCH2Ph), 6.73
(1H, d, J 1.5, H-2), 6.75 (1H, dd, J 1.5, 7.8 Hz, H-6), 7.09
(1H, dd, J 0.6, 7.8 Hz, H-5), 7.32-7.39 (5H, m, C6H5); 13
C
NMR (75 MHz, CDCl3) d 16.0 (C-14), 17.5 (C-13), 22.4
(C-15), 33.0 (C-9), 33.9 (C-8), 30.9 (C-7), 70.3 (OCH2Ph),
75.7 (C-10), 110.8 (C-8), 112.2 (C-12), 119.3 (C-6), 124.7
(C-4), 126.8–128.4 (C-20–C-60), 130.5 (C-5), 137.7 (C-10),
146.4 (C-1), 148.8 (C-11), 157.0 (C-3); HRMS calcd for
C22H28O2 324.2180, found 324.2182.
For (7R,10R)-10,11-dihydro-10,11-dihydroxyxanthorrhi-
zol (3): Rf = 0.29 (PE/Et2O, 1/9); [a]D +3.33 (c 0.30,
MeOH); IR (neat) 3382, 1619, 1589, 1256 cmꢀ1; 1H NMR