Cinnamyl alcohols, production

The earliest references to cinnamic acid, cinnamaldehyde, and cinnamyl alcohol are associated with thek isolation and identification as odor-producing constituents in a variety of botanical extracts. It is now generally accepted that the aromatic amino acid L-phenylalanine [63-91-2] a primary end product of the Shikimic Acid Pathway, is the precursor for the biosynthesis of these phenylpropanoids in higher plants (1,2). 

Manufacture. A limited, amount of natural cinnamyl alcohol is produced by the alkaline hydrolysis of the cinnamyl cinnamate present in Styrax Oil. Thus treatment of the essential oil with alcohoHc potassium hydroxide Hberates cinnamyl alcohol of reasonable purity which is then subjected to distillation. This product is sometimes preferred in fine fragrance perfumery because it contains trace impurities that have a rounding effect in finished formulations. 

The commercial production of cinnamyl alcohol is accompHshed exclusively by the reduction of cinnamaldehyde. 

Uses. Cinnamyl alcohol and its esters, especially cinnamyl acetate, are widely employed in perfumery because of their excellent sensory and fixative properties. They are frequently used in blossom compositions such as lilac, jasmine, lily of the valley, hyacinth, and gardenia to impart balsamic and oriental notes to the fragrance. In addition, they ate utilized as modifiers in berry, nut, and spice flavor systems. The value of cinnamyl alcohol has also been mentioned in a variety of appHcations which include the production of photosensitive polymers (49), the creation of inks for multicolor printing (50), the formulation of animal repellent compositions (51), and the development of effective insect attractants (52). 

In some ca.ses the use of a two-phase system may allow a change in the selectivity. Thus, Joo et al. (1998) have shown that water-soluble Ru hydrides (sulphanatophenylphosphine Ru complexes) give different products in the hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde with variation in the pH of the aqueous media. At a pH greater than 7.2, cinnamyl alcohol is formed and at a pH less than 5 saturated aldehyde is formed. 

Fig. 38.2 Effect of pH on the yield of products in hydrogenation of ira/is-cinnamalde-hyde with [ RuCI2(mtppms)2 2] and mtppms as catalyst precursors., cinnamyl alcohol , dihydrocinnamaldehyde. [cinnamaldehy-de] = 80 mM in chlorobenzene (5 mL) ...

Figure 5-15 shows a possible transition state for the enantioselective cyclopropanation of cinnamyl alcohol in the presence of dioxaborolane 206. This model predictes the absolute configuration of the products. 

Via Asymmetric Epoxidation and Related Reactions. Denis et al.35 synthesized the taxol side chain derivative via Sharpless epoxidation. Starting from cw-cinnamyl alcohol, the corresponding epoxide compound was prepared with 76-80% ee. Subsequent azide ring opening gives a product that possesses the side chain skeleton (Scheme 7-78). 

A 1-1., three-necked, round-bottomed flask equipped with a Trubore stirrer, a pressure-equalizing dropping funnel, and a reflux condenser with a drying tube is charged with 350 ml. of acetonitrile (Note 1) and 106.4 g. (0.41 mole) of triphenylphos-phine (Note 2). The flask is cooled in an ice-water bath (Note 3), and 64 g. (0.40 mole) of bromine is added dropwise over a period of ca. 15-20 minutes (Notes 4 and 5). The ice-water bath is removed, and a solution of 54 g. (0.40 mole) of cinnamyl alcohol in 50 mi. of acetonitrile is added in portions over a period of 5-10 minutes with continued stirring (Note 6). The solvent is removed by distillation with the use of a water aspirator (30-40 mm.) and an oil bath until the bath temperature reaches 120°. The water aspirator is replaced by a vacuum pump and the water-cooled condenser with an air condenser, and the distillation is continued with rapid stirring (Notes 7, 8, and 9). Most of the product (Note 10) distills at 91-98° (2-4 mm.), and about 59 g. of product crystallizes in the receiving flask (63-75% yield) (Note 11). 

It is convenient to investigate the selectivity provided by a given catalyst in the hydrogenation of / rans-cinnamaldehyde (3-phenyl-2-propenal, A) which can yield three products cinnamyl alcohol (3-phenyl-2-propenol, B), dihydrocinnamaldehyde (3-phenylpropanal, Q and 3-phenylpropanol (D) (Scheme 3.18). Data of a few catalytie systems are eollected into Table 3.8. 

Many more examples exist for reduction of the carhonyl only. Over an osmium catalyst [763] or platinum catalyst activated by zinc acetate and ferrous chloride [782] cinnamaldehyde was hydrogenated to cinnamyl alcohol. The same product was obtained by gentle reduction with lithium aluminum hydride at —10° using the inverse technique [609], by reduction with alane (prepared in situ from lithium aluminum hydride and aluminum chloride)... 

In order to avoid polymerization and to achieve better stereocontrol by quasi-intramolecular addition, a carbanion-stabilizing group and a complexing substituent for capturing alkyllithium/(—)-sparteine in the substrate are useful. This carbolithiation protocol was realized with great success by Marek, Normant and coworkers (equation 125) Addition of n-BuLi/(—)-sparteine (11) onto the lithium alcoholate derived from ( )-cinnamyl alcohol (457) in cumene at 0°C afforded the addition product with 82% yield and 80% ee. 

Cinnamyl anthranilate can be synthesized by esterification of anthranilic acid with cinnamyl alcohol (Burdock, 1995). Annual production in the United States in the 1970 was in the range of a few hundred kg (lARC, 1983). It has not been commercially available, except for research purposes, since 1985 (Lucas et al, 1999 Food and Drug Administration, 1999). 

In a separate experiment, groups of male CDl mice were given intraperitoneal injections of 0-200 mg/kg bw ciimamyl anthranilate daily for three days. At doses of 20 mg/kg bw and above, there were dose-dependent increases in relative liver weight, total cytochrome P450, and cyanide-insensitive palmitoyl-CoA oxidation. The hepatic effects of cinnamyl anthranilate are apparently due to the intact ester, since neither its expected metabolites alone nor an equimolar mixture of the hydrolysis products, cinnamyl alcohol and anthranilic acid, had a significant effect on the weight or marker enzyme content of mouse liver (Viswalingam Caldwell, 1997). 

Cinnamyl anthranilate has the characteristic effects of a peroxisome proliferator on mouse liver, increasing the activity of peroxisomal fatty acid-metabolizing enzymes and microsomal CYP4A and increasing hepatocellular proliferation. These effects are mediated by the intact ester, and were not seen after administration of the hydrolysis products, cinnamyl alcohol and anthranilic acid. The corresponding effects on rat liver were very much weaker. No relevant data from humans were available. 

The alkylation of 2,4-di-tert-butylphenol with cinnamyl alcohol was carried out in a 25 ml flask with 0.25 mmol 2,4-di-tert-butylphenol (Aldrich) and 0.25 mmol cinnamyl alcohol (Aldrich) using 12.5 ml isooctane as solvent. When the solution was heated and maintained at 60°C, 125 mg catalyst was added. After 6 h s reaction, the catalyst was filtered and extracted with dichloromethane to recover adsorbed reaction products. 1,3 -Di-tert-butylbenzene was used as internal standard and the products were analyzed by GC (HP5890) and GC-MS (HP5890). 

The concentration of substrate used in the asymmetric epoxidation must be given consideration because competing side reactions may increase with increased reagent concentration. The use of catalytic quantities of the Ti-tartrate complex has greatiy reduced this problem. The epoxidation of most substrates under catalytic conditions may be performed at a substrate concentration up to 1 M. By contrast, epoxidations using stoichiometric amounts of complex are best run at substrate concentrations of 0.1 M or lower. Even with catalytic amounts of the complex, a concentration of 0.1 M may be maximal for substrates such as cinnamyl alcohol, which produce sensitive epoxy alcohol products [4]. 

Reaction of cinnamyl alcohol (36) catalyzed by Rh-BINAPHOS gives the product as lactol 37 (1 1 mixture of diastereomers at the anomeric carbon) with high enantioselectivity (88% ee) [94] (Scheme 7.7). The enantiopurity of lactol 37 is determined by oxidizing the lactol to the corresponding lactone 38. In the same manner, homoallyl alcohol (39) is converted to the corresponding a-methyl-y-butyrolactone (42) with 73% ee via lactol 40 [94] (Scheme 7.7). However, the regioselectivity of the reaction is not favorable to the formation of 40, forming achiral 6-lactol 41 as the major product. 

Coniferaldehyde (3.76) can undergo several fates, some of which can ultimately lead to the same end product. It can be reduced to coniferyl alcohol (3.79) by the enzyme cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD). Alternatively, the enzyme coniferyl aldehyde/coniferyl alcohol 5-hydroxylase (C5H), also known by its less accurate name ferulic acid 5-hydroxylase (F5H Humphreys et al., 1999) can catalyze the hydroxylation of C5 to result in 5-hydroxyconiferyl aldehyde (3.77). C5H is also able to form 5-hydroxyconiferyl alcohol (3.80) from coniferyl alcohol (3.79). This enzyme was initially identified as F5H, after analysis of the Arabidopsis ferulic acid hydroxylase 1 (fahl) mutant, which was isolated in a mutant screen based on reduced levels of the UV-fluorescent sinapoyl esters (Section 13 Chappie et al., 1992). The FAH1 gene was cloned using a T-DNA tagged mutant allele (Meyer et al., 1996), which revealed that the... 

Thioacidolysis allows the distinction between products derived from lignin and products derived from />coumaric and ferulic acids, and the distinction between products derived from cinnamaldehydes and cinnamyl alcohols. Recent improvements have made it possible to estimate the fraction of free phenolic groups in uncondensed lignin (see Section 1.3.1), and to depolymerize the dimers, so that they can be included in the analysis of the lignin composition. 

Chlorotrimethylsilane (2.7 g, 25 mmol) (1) (CAUTION) is added to a solution of lithium bromide (1.74g, 20 mmol) in dry acetonitrile (20 ml) (2) with good stirring under a nitrogen atmosphere. Cinnamyl alcohol (1.34 g, 10 mmol) is then added and the reaction mixture heated under reflux for 12 hours. The progress of the reaction is monitored by t.l.c. on silica gel plates with hexane as the eluant. On completion of the reaction (12 hours), the reaction mixture is taken up in ether (50 ml), washed successively with water (2 x 25 ml), sodium hydrogen carbonate solution (10%, 50 ml) and finally brine, and dried over anhydrous sodium sulphate. Evaporation of the ether affords the pure bromide in 93 per cent yield. The product may be recrystallised from ethanol and has m.p. 31-32 °C CAUTION this compound is lachrymatory. 

In this chapter I will focus on biochemical and molecular aspects leading to lignin production. We have studied in detail phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL EC 4.3.1.5), the first enzyme of the general phenylpropanoid pathway, and cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD EC 1.1.1.195), an enzyme specific to the branch pathway leading to lignin formation. 

One aspect shared with several other genes of the phenylpropanoid pathway is the transient induction after environmental challenge. This has also been demonstrated for chalcone synthase (Ryder et al., 1984) and chalcone isomerase (Cramer et al., 1985 Mehdy Lamb, 1987), enzymes involved in phytoalexin production, and for cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD) an enzyme of lignin biosynthesis, in response to elicitor treatment of bean tissue culture cells (Grand et al., 1987). 

The reductive sequence from an appropriate cinnamic acid to the corresponding cinnamyl alcohol is not restricted to lignin and lignan biosynthesis, and is utilized for the production of various phenylpropene derivatives. Thus cinnamaldehyde (Figure 4.23) is the principal component in the... 

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