A-Tocopherol derived

FIGURE 6.8 Hypothetical disproportionation of two a-tocopherol-derived radicals 2 and 10 in the absence of other coreactants to account for the formation of typical two-electron oxidation products (o-QM 3, a-tocopherol spiro dimer 9). 

K2CO3, acetone, alkyl halides). With excess alkyl halide the 2,3-di-O-alkylated derivatives could be obtained and by step-wise alkylation different alkyl moieties could be introduced at 0-3 and 0-2. Alkylation of L-ascorbic acid derivatives at 0-2 or 0-3 with kojic acid and a tocopherol derivative afforded conjugates with enhanced thermal stability. ... 

The recommended daily allowance for vitamin E ranges from 10 international units (1 lU = 1 mg all-rac-prevent vitamin E deficiency in humans. High levels enhance immune responses in both animals and humans. Requirements for animals vary from 3 USP units /kg diet for hamsters to 70 lU /kg diet for cats (13). The complete metaboHsm of vitamin E in animals or humans is not known. The primary excreted breakdown products of a-tocopherol in the body are gluconurides of tocopheronic acid (27) (Eig. 6). These are derived from the primary metaboUte a-tocopheryl quinone (9) (see Eig. 2) (44,45). 

If hydrogen transfer is under thermodynamic control, then the vitamin will experience cleavage of the weakest CH (or OH) bond. Compare energies ofradicals derived from hydrogen abstraction at different positions from a model a-tocopherol (R = CH3). Which radical is most stable Are there alternative radicals of similar stabihty ... 

The strong Bronstedt acid nature of some hexacoordinated phosphorus derivatives, [7",H ] (Et20)4 in particular, was recently used within the context of an industrial application [36]. The conjugated acid of tris(oxalato)phosphate anion 7 was found to effectively catalyze the ring-forming reaction of trimethyl-hydroquinone 63 with isophytol 64 to give (all rac)-a-tocopherol 65 (ethylene-carbonate/heptane 1 1,100 °C, 90%, Scheme 19). This process is particularly... 

Oxidation of the fatty acids in an LDL particle shares many of the characteristics associated with lipid peroxidation in other biological or chemical systems. Once initiated peroxyl radicals are formed and this results in the oxidation of a-tocopherol to give the a-tocopheroyl radical (Kalyanaraman etal., 1990). This can be demonstrated by e.s.r. techniques that allow the direct observation of stable radicals such as the a-tocopheroyl radical. After the a-tocopheryl radical is consumed, lipid-derived peroxyl radicals can be detected after reaction with spin traps (Kalyanaraman etal., 1990, 1991). 

The occurrence of a 5a-C-centered tocopherol-derived radical 10, often called chromanol methide radical or chromanol methyl radical, had been postulated in literature dating back to the early days of vitamin E research,12 19 which have been cited or supposedly reconfirmed later (Fig. 6.5).8,20-22 In some accounts, radical structure 10 has been described in the literature as being a resonance form (canonic structure) of the tocopheroxyl radical, which of course is inaccurate. If indeed existing, radical 10 represents a tautomer of tocopheroxyl radical 2, being formed by achemical reaction, namely, a 1,4-shift of one 5a-proton to the 6-oxygen, but not just by a shift of electrons as in the case of resonance structures (Fig. 6.5). In all accounts mentioning... 

Basically, three reactions were evoked to support the occurrence of 5a-C-centered radicals 10 in tocopherol chemistry. The first one is the formation of 5a-substituted derivatives (8) in the reaction of a-tocopherol (1) with radicals and radical initiators. The most prominent example here is the reaction of 1 with dibenzoyl peroxide leading to 5a-a-tocopheryl benzoate (11) in fair yields,12 so that a typical radical recombination mechanism was postulated (Fig. 6.6). Similarly, low yields of 5a-alkoxy-a-tocopherols were obtained by oxidation of a-tocopherol with tert-butyl hydroperoxide or other peroxides in inert solvents containing various alcohols,23 24 although the involvement of 5 a-C-centered radicals in the formation mechanism was not evoked for explanation in these cases. 

The initiator-derived radical products generate a-tocopheroxyl radicals (2) from a-tocopherol (1). The radicals 2 are further oxidized to ort/io-quinone methide 3 in a formal H-atom abstraction, thereby converting benzoyloxy radicals to benzoic acid and phenyl radicals to benzene. The generated o-QM 3 adds benzoic acid in a [ 1,4] -addition process, whereas it cannot add benzene in such a fashion. This pathway accounts for the observed occurrence of benzoate 11 and simultaneous absence of a 5 a-phenyl derivative and readily explains the observed products without having to involve the hypothetical C-centered radical 10. 

It was shown that complexes 19 of the zwitterionic precursors of ortho-quinone methides and a bis(sulfonium ylide) derived from 2,5-di hydroxyl 1,4 benzoquinone46 were even more stable than those with amine N-oxides. The bis(sulfonium ylide) complexes were formed in a strict 2 1 ratio (o-QM/ylide) and were unaltered at —78 °C for 10 h and stable at room temperature under inert conditions for as long as 15—30 min (Fig. 6.18).47 The o-QM precursor was produced from a-tocopherol (1), its truncated model compound (la), or a respective ortho-methylphenol in general by Ag20 oxidation in a solution containing 0.50-0.55 equivalents of bis(sulfonium ylide) at —78 °C. Although the species interacting with the ylide was actually the zwitterionic oxidation intermediate 3a and not the o-QM itself, the term stabilized o-QM was introduced for the complexes, since these reacted similar to the o-QMs themselves but in a well defined way without dimerization reactions. 

Treatment of methano-dimer 28 with elemental bromine revealed a remarkable reactivity at low temperatures it proceeded quantitatively to the furano-spiro dimer 29, by analogy with the ethano-dimer 12 giving spiro dimer 9 upon oxidation. With increasing temperatures, the reaction mechanism changed, however, now affording a mixture of 5-bromo-y-tocopherol (30) and spiro dimer 9 (Fig. 6.24). Thus, the methano-dimer 28 fragmented into an a-tocopherol part, in the form of o-QM 3 that dimerized into 9, and a /-tocopherol part, which was present as the 5-bromo derivative 30 after the reaction. Thus, the overall reaction can be regarded as oxidative dealkylation. 

Spiro dimerization of the tocopherol-derived o-QM seemed to be a quite favored process, which proceeds also in the case of moderately bulky substituents at C-5a. 

The reaction of 5a-bromo-a-tocopherol (46) with amines was further elaborated into a procedure to use this compound as a protecting group Toe for amines and amino acids (Fig. 6.35).62 The protection effect was due to a steric blocking of the amino function by the bulky tocopheryl moiety rather than due to conversion into a non-nucleophilic amide derivative, and the Toc-protected amino acids were employed in the synthesis of dipeptides according to the dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCC) coupling method.64 The overall yield of the reaction sequence was reported to be largely dependent on the coupling reaction, since both installation and removal of the... 

Tocopheryl)propionic acid (50) is one of the rare examples that the o-QM 3 is involved in a direct synthesis rather than as a nonintentionally used intermediate or byproduct. ZnCl2-catalyzed, inverse hetero-Diels-Alder reaction between ortho-qui-none methide 3 and an excess of <2-methyl-C,<9-bis-(trimethylsilyl)ketene acetal provided the acid in fair yields (Fig. 6.37).67 The o-QM 3 was prepared in situ by thermal degradation of 5a-bromo-a-tocopherol (46). The primary cyclization product, an ortho-ester derivative, was not isolated, but immediately hydrolyzed to methyl 3-(5-tocopheryl)-2-trimethylsilyl-propionate, subsequently desilylated, and finally hydrolyzed into 50. 

While tocopherylacetic aicd (51), the lower Crhomologue of 3-(5-tocopheryl)-propionic acid (50) showed a changed redox behavior (see Section 6.5.1), compound 50 displayed the usual redox behavior of tocopherol derivatives, that is, formation of both ortho- and para-quinoid oxidation intermediates and products depending on the respective reaction conditions. Evidently, the electronic substituent effects that... 

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