Vol. 27, No. 2 (2015)
Synthesis of C6 Acetylenic Alcohols 637
stirring for 0.5 h, a mixture of compound 5 (0.2 mol) and
ethyl vinyl ether (1.2 mol) was added.After reaction was stirred
at room temperature for 13 h, the reaction mixture was washed
with H2O (2 × 50 mL), brine (50 mL) and finally dried over
anhydrous Na2SO4. The crude product was purified by column
chromatography on silica gel (petroleum ether/ethyl acetate =
10:1) to afford a pale yellow liquid. Yield 95 %; FT-IR (film)
(cm-1): 3301, 2982, 2935, 2103, 1683, 1447, 1373, 1337, 1136,
1080, 959, 864; 1H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3): δ (ppm) = 5.15-
5.09 (m, 1H, CHCH3), 4.69 (q, J = 5.2 Hz, 1H, CHCH3), 3.90-
3.96 (m, 4H), 3.56-3.45 (m, 2H), 2.50 (s, 1H, ethynyl), 2.13-
1.94 (m, 2H), 1.47 (s, 3H, CH3), 1.35-1.30 (m, 6H, CH3), 1.23-
1.17 (m, 6H, CH3); HR-MS (ESI): Calcd. for C14H26NaO4
[M + Na]+: 281.1729, found 281.1721.
CDCl3): δ (ppm) = 5.16 (q, J = 5.2 Hz, 1H, CHCH3), 4.08-
3.94 (m, 2H, CH2O), 2.54 (s, 1H, ethynyl), 1.89 (td, J = 12.8,
4.8 Hz, 1H), 1.59 (td, J = 13.2, 1.6 Hz, 1H), 1.53 (s, 3H, CH3),
1.31 (d, J = 5.2 Hz, 3H, CHCH3); GC-MS: 140.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
New synthetic method of C6 acetylenic alcohols: Previous
studies13 disclosed a costly procedure to access diol compound
5. Reaction of 3-acetyl-4-benzyloxazolidin-2-one with
3-butyn-2-one furnished aldol condensation product in the
presence of LDA at -78 °C and the condensation product was
reduced with LiBH4 to provide diol compound 5. Compared
with above reported method, present new synthetic route to
compound 5 is concise and the starting materials are commer-
cially available and inexpensive (Scheme-I). 4-Hydroxy-2-
butanone (3) was protected by chlorotrimethylsilane to give
silyl ether (4) in high yield at room temperature. After that,
compound 4 was ethynylated with ethynylmagnesium bromide
followed by easy deprotection of trimethylsiyl group with
dilute HCl to afford diol compound 5 in moderate yield at
room temperature.
Synthesis of 4-(1-ethoxyethoxy)butan-2-one (9):
p-Toluenesulfonic acid monohydrate (75 mmol) was added to
pyridine (82.5 mmol) with stirring in dichloromethane (400
mL) at room temperature (slightly exothermic). After stirring
for 0.5 h, a mixture of compound 3 (750 mmol) and ethyl
vinyl ether (1.5 mol) was added, followed by stirring for 6 h.
The reaction mixture was washed with H2O (2 × 40 mL), brine
(40 mL) and finally dried over anhydrous Na2SO4. The crude
product was purified by column chromatography on silica gel
(petroleum ether/ethyl acetate = 12:1) to afford a colorless
liquid. Yield 92 %; FT-IR (film) (cm-1): 3349, 2973, 2884,
1716, 1379, 1127, 1092, 1050, 947, 879; 1H NMR (400 MHz,
CDCl3): δ (ppm) = 4.68 (q, J = 4.4 Hz, 1H, CHCH3), 3.86-
3.81 (m, 1H), 3.72-3.60 (m, 2H), 3.49-3.44 (m, 1H), 2.68 (t,
J = 5.4 Hz, 2H, CH3COCH2), 2.19 (s, 3H, CH3CO), 1.29 (d,
J = 4.8 Hz, 3H, CHCH3), 1.20 (t, J = 6.4 Hz, 3H, CH2CH3);
HR-MS (ESI): Calcd. for C8H16NaO3 [M + Na]+: 183.0997,
found 183.0994.
Our method employed inexpensive chlorotrimethylsilane
as silylating agents, which is better than the expensive hexa-
methyldisilazane as silylating regent in the previous method12.
This new route to compound 5 avoided the use of expensive
starting materials and the reaction conditions were very mild.
In the preparation for enynyl aldehyde (6), a selective
oxidation of compound 5 with the aid of collins reagent was
developed. As the product obtained in the collins oxidation
was unstable, the oxidation product was directly dehydrated
with dilute H2SO4 to furnish compound 6. The 1H NMR
spectrum of compound 6 displayed signals for both geometric
isomers (E/Z = 1 : 8.6).
Synthesis of 5-(1-ethoxyethoxy)-3-methylpent-1-yn-3-
ol (10): A solution of compound 9 (0.1 mol) in THF (10 mL)
was added dropwise to ethynylmagnesium bromide12 (0.2
mol) at 0-5 °C over a period of 0.5 h. After addition of com-
pound 9 the reaction mixture was quenched with saturated
NH4Cl and extracted with ethyl acetate (3 × 25 mL). The
combined extracts were washed with brine, dried (Na2SO4)
and evaporated. The crude product was purified by column
chromatography on silica gel (petroleum ether/ethyl acetate =
10:1) to afford a pale yellow liquid. Yield 65 %; FT-IR (film)
(cm-1): 3443, 3295, 2979, 2929, 2884, 2106, 1716, 1379,1130,
1086, 947, 917; 1H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3): δ (ppm) = 5.16-
5.10 (m, 1H, CHCH3), 4.05-3.80 (m, 2H), 3.71-3.42 (m, 2H),
2.52 (s, 1H, ethynyl), 1.90-1.77 (m, 1H), 1.57-1.53 (m, 1H),
1.50-1.48 (m, 3H, CH3), 1.30-1.27 (m, 3H, CHCH3), 1.22-
1.15 (m, 3H, OCH2CH3); HR-MS (ESI): Calcd. for C10H18NaO3
[M + Na]+: 209.1154, found 209.1150.
Finally, reduction of compound 6 in the presence of
NaBH4 gave a E/Z-mixture of compound 2 (R = H) (E/Z = 1 :
6.3) in 95 % yield.
New derivatives of C6 acetylenic alcohols: The new C6
acetylenic alcohol derivatives compounds (7, 8, 10 and 11)
synthesized in this study contain six-carbon backbone bearing
alkynyl group and hydroxy-protected silyl ethers or acetals. It
is anticipated that the alkynyl group of these derivatives can
react with the carbonyl compounds such as C14-aldehyde8, 4-
hydroxy-2,2,6- trimethylcyclohexanone18 to get the carbon
skeleton of Vitamin A and carotenoids. The silyl ethers or
acetals can be easily deprotected under acidic conditions
followed by the elimination of hydroxy to afford the polyenic
compounds, which can be further converted into Vitamin A
and carotenoids.
Di-silylated compound 7 was obtained in 89 % yield by
treatment of diol compound 5 with chlorotrimethylsilane and
Et3N in dichloromethane. The reaction was easy to handle and
the yield was excellent. Compound 7 possesses two silylated
protecting groups which can be easily deprotected under
weakly acidic conditions. So compound 7 may be appropriate
for synthesizing precursors of carotenoids which were obtained
in weakly acidic conditions.
Synthesis of 4-ethynyl-2,4-dimethyl-1,3-dioxane (11):
Dry hydrogen chloride was bubbled for about 1 h through a
mixture of compound 10 (2.7 mmol) and ethanol (15 mL) at
10-15 °C. After the reaction was completed, the resulting
mixture was washed with saturated sodium bicarbonate, dried
(Na2SO4) and evaporated. The crude product was purified by
column chromatography on silica gel (petroleum ether/ethyl
acetate = 15:1) to afford a green yellow liquid. Yield 57 %;
FT-IR (film) (cm-1): 3293, 2988, 2929, 2867, 2106, 1728, 1402,
Mixed acetals compound 8 was prepared in 95 % yield
by addition of diol compound 5 with ethyl vinyl ether under
1
1260, 1192, 1136, 1095, 944, 858; H NMR (400 MHz,