10.1016/0040-4020(66)80130-8
The research aimed to investigate the relationship between the chemical structure and biological activity of vitamin A by synthesizing 9-, 13-, and 9,13-desmethyl homologues of vitamin A acetate. The study concluded that the presence of both methyl groups on the sidechain of the all-trans system is essential for growth-promoting properties, as the all-trans-13- and all-trans-9,13-desmethyl vitamin A acetates showed no activity, while the all-trans-9-desmethyl vitamin A acetate exhibited only about 4% of the activity compared to all-trans-vitamin A acetate. The synthesis involved chemicals such as truns-ionylidene acetaldehyde, truns-(2’,6’,6’-trimethylcyclohexen-1’-yl-1’)-pentadiene 2,4- dial, phosphonates of the appropriate crotonic acid esters, and reagents like lithium aluminum hydride (LAH) or diisobutylaluminum hydride (DIBAH) for reduction steps. Biological investigations were conducted to assess the growth-promoting properties of these synthesized compounds.