618 J. Agric. Food Chem., Vol. 46, No. 2, 1998
Hofmann and Schieberle
Sch em e 2
F igu r e 4. Mass spectrum (MS/EI) of 2-acetylpiperidine.
pipecolinic acid (10.0 mmol, yield of 84%) was obtained by
storing the solution at -30 °C as white crystals: MS (D-CI)
m/z (relative intensity) 175 (100), 230 (90); 1H NMR (360 MHz,
CDCl3, numbering of carbon atoms refers to 7 in Figure 3)
spectrometer (Bruker, Karlsruhe, Germany). The signals were
assigned using tetramethylsilane as the internal standard.
t
1.23-1.73 (m, 5H, H at C-2, C-3, and C-4), 1.49 (s, 9H, Bu),
2.27 (br s, 1H, H at C-2), 3.00 (m, 1H, H at C-5), 4.04 (m, 1H,
H at C-5), 4.80 and 4.98 (each br s, total 1H, H at C-1), 9.58
(br s, 1H, OH at C-9).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In a previous investigation, we observed that 2-(1-
hydroxyethyl)-4,5-dihydrothiazol is easily oxidized into
2-acetylthiazoline simply when heated in water for 10
min in the presence of oxygen (Hofmann and Schieberle,
1995). It might be concluded that the oxidation runs
via the tautomeric forms shown in Scheme 2. This
result gave us the idea that probably 2-acetylpyrrolidine
and 2-acetylpiperidine, having the same structural
element of a cyclic R-aminoketone, may also be key
intermediates in the generation of the food flavorants
2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (AP) and 2-acetyltetrahydropyridine
(ATHP). A literature search, however, revealed that
neither the 2-acetylpyrrolidine nor the 2-acetylpiperi-
dine had yet been characterized by analytical data.
Therefore, we have developed a concept for the synthesis
of cyclic R-aminoketones starting from the N-tert-
butoxycarbonyl-shielded L-proline and pipecolinic acid.
The synthetic concept is discussed below for the syn-
thesis of 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline. In the first step, the
carboxy function of the N-(tert-butoxycarbonyl)-L-proline
(3 in Figure 1) is converted into the pyridyl thioester in
nearly 90% yield by treatment with 2,2′-dipyridyl di-
sulfide and triphenylphosphine. The thioester 4 ob-
tained was then exposed to methylmagnesium bromide,
yielding 2-acetyl-N-(tert-butoxycarbonyl)pyrrolidine 5
after hydrolysis with water. The structure of 5 was
established by the disappearance of the aromatic pro-
After treatment with 2,2′-dipyridyl disulfide, 7 was then
converted into the corresponding thio ester 8 N-(tert-butoxy-
carbonyl)-2-[(2-pyridylthio)carbonyl]piperidine in an overall
87% yield: MS (D-CI) m/z (relative intensity) 184 (100), 168
1
(98), 212 (70), 267 (62), 157 (55), 169 (29), 323 (11); H NMR
(360 MHz, CDCl3, numbering of carbon atoms refers to 8 in
Figure 3) δ 1.31-1.80 (m, 5H, H at C-2, C-3, and C-4), 1.44 (s,
9H, tBu), 2.27 (br s, H at C-2), 2.97 (m, 1H, H at C-5), 4.06 (m,
1H, H at C-5), 4.84 and 5.05 (each m, total 1H, H at C-1), 7.22
(br d, 1H, H at C-11), 7.48-7.52 (m, 1H, h at C-12), 7.61-
7.65 (m, 1H, H at C-13), 8.54 (br s, 1H, H at C-14).
Treatment of 8 with CH3MgBr then yielded 2-acetyl-N-(tert-
butoxycarbonyl)piperidine (9 in Figure 3): MS(EI) m/z (relative
intensity) 84 (100), 57 (83), 128 (58), 184 (13), 155 (7), 110 (6),
227 (1); 1H NMR (360 MHz, CDCl3, numbering of carbon atoms
refers to 9 in Figure 3) δ 1.19-1.70 (m, 5H, H at C-2, C-3, and
t
C-4), 1.46 (s, 9H, Bu), 2.14 (s, 3H, H at C-10), 2.17 (m, 1H, H
at C-2), 2.85 (m, 1H, H at C-5), 3.97 (m, 1H, H at C-5), 4.65
(m, 1H, H at C-1).
After treatment of 9 with trifluoroacetic acid, 2-acetylpip-
eridine trifluoroacetate (10) was obtained in 67% yield. The
mass spectrum of the free 2-acetylpiperidine liberated from
its salt at pH 7.0 is shown in Figure 4. By MS/CI, the expected
molecular weight of 127 could by established. Oxidation of
10 finally yielded 2a and 2b (61% yield) which were character-
ized by their mass spectra, in good agreement with data
published earlier (Schieberle, 1995).
High -Resolu tion Ga s Ch r om a togr a p h y (HRGC)/Ma ss
Sp ectr om etr y (MS). High-resolution gas chromatography/
mass spectrometry (HRGC/MS) was performed using a DB-5
capillary column (30 m × 0.32 mm; J + W Scientific, Fisons
Instruments, Mainz, Germany) which was installed in a type
5300 gas chromatograph (Fisons) coupled to a type 8230 mass
spectrometer (Finigan, Bremen, Germany). The mass spec-
trometer was operated either in the electron impact mode (MS/
EI) at 70 eV or in the chemical ionization mode (MS/CI) at
115 eV with isobutane as the reagent gas. The samples were
applied by the cold on column injection technique at 40 °C.
After 2 min, the oven temperature was raised by 40 °C/min to
50 °C, held for 2 min isothermally, then raised at 6 °C/min to
230 °C, and held for 5 min isothermally.
1
tons in the H NMR spectra and the new signal of the
methyl group at δ 2.09 (C-9 in Figure 1). The yield of
this Grignard reaction was relatively high (71%). Depro-
tection of 5 with trifluoroacetic acid then yielded
2-acetylpyrrolidine trifluoroacetate 6.
In the first experiment, we tried to liberate 2-acetylpyr-
rolidine from an aliquot of 6 by treatment with a weak
base. However, only the oxidized homologue 2-acetyl-
1-pyrroline was detectable after HRGC/MS. To estab-
lish that we really had the 2-acetylpyrrolidine at hand,
an aliquot of 6 was suspended in dichloromethane in a
closed vessel under an atmosphere of pure helium.
After addition of an aquimolar amount of a weak base
(dicyclohexylamine), the 2-acetylpyrrolidine formed was
immediately analyzed by HRGC/MS, yielding one main
product showing the spectrum displayed in Figure 2.
The molecular weight (M+ + 1 ) 114) obtained by
Direct inlet mass spectra (D-CI) were recorded with the type
8230 mass spectrometer (Finnigan) running in the chemical
ionization mode with isobutane as the reagent gas.
NMR Sp ectr oscop y. 1H NMR spectra were recorded in
CDCl3 (MSD isotopes, Montreal, Canada) with an AM 360