Citronellal, preparation

Citronellal prepared from Java citronella oil is laevo-rotatory to the extent of about - 3°. 

Citronellol can be characterised by conversion into citronellyl-3>hthalate of silver, which is prepared in an exactly similar manner to the corresponding geranyl compound, and melts at 125° to 126°. It can also be oxidised in the same manner as geraniol, yielding the aldehyde citronellal, which can be identified as described later (vide citronellal). 

Citronellal which was originally termed citronellone, is one of the characteristic constituents of citronella oil, in which it occurs to a considerable extent. It can be prepared by shaking the essential oil with a hot solution of sodium bisulphite, and decomposing the resulting bisulphite compound by means of sodium carbonate and distilling the citronellal in a current of steam. Citronellal is optically active, and it is probable that the specimens isolated from natural sources are mixtures of the two optically active isomers, so that the actual theoretical rotation is not known with certainty. 

For the identification of citronellal, the semi-carbazone is the easiest cry stalline compound to prepare. It results if an alcoholic solution of citronellal be well-shaken with a solution of semi-carbazide hydrochloride and acetate of sodium. It is purified by recrystallisation from a mixture of chloroform and petroleum ether, and then melts at 84°. It also forms a well-defined naphthocinchoninic acid, which is prepared in the same manner as the corresponding citral compound. It melts at 225°. 

The synthetic problem is now reduced to the development of a feasible, large-scale preparation of enantiomerically pure (/ )-citro-nellal (36), which has a single stereogenic center. One way in which the aldehyde function in 36 could be introduced is through the hydrolysis of a terminal enamine. (/ )-CitronelIal (36) can thus be traced to citronellal ( )-diethylenamine (44), the projected product of an enantioselective isomerization of prochiral diethylgera-... 

CHROMIUM TRIOXIDE-PYRIDINE COMPLEX, preparation in situ, 55, 84 Chrysene, 58,15, 16 fzans-Cinnamaldehyde, 57, 85 Cinnamaldehyde dimethylacetal, 57, 84 Cinnamyl alcohol, 56,105 58, 9 2-Cinnamylthio-2-thiazoline, 56, 82 Citric acid, 58,43 Citronellal, 58, 107, 112 Cleavage of methyl ethers with iodotri-methylsilane, 59, 35 Cobalt(II) acetylacetonate, 57, 13 Conjugate addition of aryl aldehydes, 59, 53 Copper (I) bromide, 58, 52, 54, 56 59,123 COPPER CATALYZED ARYLATION OF /3-DlCARBONYL COMPOUNDS, 58, 52 Copper (I) chloride, 57, 34 Copper (II) chloride, 56, 10 Copper(I) iodide, 55, 105, 123, 124 Copper(I) oxide, 59, 206 Copper(ll) oxide, 56, 10 Copper salts of carboxylic acids, 59, 127 Copper(l) thiophenoxide, 55, 123 59, 210 Copper(l) trifluoromethanesulfonate, 59, 202... 

Detection and result The chromatogram was freed from mobile phase and immersed for 1 s in the freshly prepared dipping solution and then heated to 105 to 110°C for 5 to 10 min. Citral QiRf 60) and citronellal QiRf 80) produced brown zones on a li t brown background in visible light, the zones had a purple fluorescence under long-wavelength UV light X = 365 nm). Cinnamaldehyde acquired an intense yellow color but did not fluoresce. 

Nickel complexes are also active catalyst for the isomerization of allylic alcohols. Ni(dppb)2, prepared by mixing Ni(cod)2/2dppb (2equiv.), catalyzed the isomerization of geraniol to citronellal in the presence of CF3C02H (4equiv.) in toluene at 80 °C (Equation (10)).34... 

Isomerization of allylic amines is another example of the application of the BINAP complex. Rh BINAP complex catalyzes the isomerization of N,N-diethylnerylamine 40 generated from myrcene 39 with 76-96% optical yield. Compound (R)-citronellal (R)-42. prepared through hydrolysis of (R)-41, is then cyclized by zinc bromide treatment.49 Catalytic hydrogenation then completes the synthesis of (—)-menthol. This enantioselective catalysis allows the annual production of about 1500 tons of menthol and other terpenic substances by Takasago International Corporation.50... 

S )-citronellal 42 can also be prepared similarly from 40. Asymmetric hydrogenation of (R)-43 provides 44, which can be used to make the side chain of vitamins E and K (Scheme 6-22). 

More recendy the cis and trans isomers of the mosquito repellent CIC-4, a mixture of citronella isomers, have been separated by preparative hplc and bioassayed for effectiveness (23). Chiral-phase capillary gas chromatography and mosquito repellent activity of some oxazolidine derivatives of (+)-and (— )-citronellal have been studied to find structure—activity relationships (24). Several 2-alkyl- -acetyloxalidines have been synthesized and tested against mosquitoes, with further efforts using nmr to determine the rotational isomers of the more active N-acetyl-2,2-dimethyloxazolidine (25). 

Citronellol undergoes the typical reactions of primary alcohols. Compared with geraniol, which contains one more double bond, citronellol is relatively stable. Citronellol is converted into citronellal by dehydrogenation or oxidation hydrogenation yields 3,7-dimethyloctan-l-ol. Citronellyl esters are easily prepared by esterification with acid anhydrides. 

Synthesis of (+)- and ( )-Citronellol from the Citronellal Fraction of Essential Oils. (+)-Citronellal is obtained by distillation of Java citronella oil and is hydrogenated to (+)-citronellol in the presence of a catalyst (e.g., Raney nickel). Similarly, (zb)-citronellol is prepared from the ( )-citronellal fraction of Eucalyptus citriodora oil. 

CioHnN, M, 151.25, bp2 110-111 °C, df 0.845-colorless liquid with a strong, lemon-like odor. The nitrile can be prepared from citronellal oxime in the same way as geranic acid nitrile. 

The method for preparing (-)-menthol (73) from (+)-citronellal (68), which can be fractionally distilled from citronella oil, is cydization by the ene-reaction. The reaction can he done thermally or using alumina and silica catalysts (145—147). 

Citronellal can also he converted to the as- [92471-23-3] (88) and teamen thane-3,8-dtol [91739-72-9] (89) by reaction with dilute acids (176,177). The glycol mixture can be readily purified by distillation and the two isomers easily separated. The glycols are useful as insect repellents (qv) and ate especially effective against mosquitos (178). Derivatives of the glycols have been prepared and are useful as insecticides and plant growth regulators (179). 

The Rh(I)-catalyzed isomerization of prochiral allylic amines to optically active enamines is used for the giant-scale synthesis of citronellal, citronellol, menthol, and other fragrances (18)(Chapter 3). 7-Meth-oxydihydrocitronellal, thus prepared, is an insect growth regulator. All of these processes can be carried out economically and with extremely high optical yields. 

The preparation of menthol from citronellal, pulegol or isopulegol by the fungus Penicillium digitatum was patented as early as 1955 [46]. To a... 

Analogous to the use of chiral acetals one can employ chiral N,O-acetals, accessible from a, -unsatu-rated aldehydes and certain chiral amino alcohols, to prepare optically active -substituted aldehydes via subsequent Sn2 addition and hydrolysis. However, the situation is more complicated in this case, since the N,0-acetal center constitutes a new stereogenic center which has to be selectively established. The addition of organocopper compounds to a, -ethylenic oxazolidine derivatives prepared from unsaturated aldehydes and ephedrine was studied.70-78 The (diastereo) selectivities were rather low (<50% ee after hydrolysis) in most cases, the highest value being 80% ee in a single case.73 There is a strong solvent effect in these reactions, e.g. in the addition of lithium dimethylcuprate to the ( )-cinnamaldehyde-derived oxazolidine (70 Scheme 28) 73 the (fl)-aldehyde (71) is formed preferentially in polar solvents, while the (S)-enantiomer [ent-71) is the major product in nonpolar solvents like hexane. This approach was utilized in the preparation of citronellal (80% ee) from crotonaldehyde (40% overall yield).78... 

Although various transition-metal complexes have reportedly been active catalysts for the migration of inner double bonds to terminal ones in functionalized allylic systems (Eq. 3.2) [5], prochiral allylic compounds with a multisubstituted olefin (Rl, R2 H in eq 2) are not always susceptible to catalysis or they show only a low reactivity [Id]. Choosing allylamines 1 and 2 as the substrates for enantioselective isomerization has its merits (1) optically pure citronellal, which is an important starting material for optically active terpenoids such as (-)-menthol, cannot be obtained directly from natural sources [6], and (2) both ( )-allylamine 1 and (Z)-allylamine 2 can be prepared in reasonable yields from myrcene or isoprene, respectively, The ( )-allylamine 1 is obtained from the reaction of myrcene and diethylamine in the presence of lithium diethylamide under Ar in an almost quantitative yield (Eq. 3.3) [7], The (Z)-allylamine 2 can also be prepared with high selectivity (-90%) by Li-catalyzed telomerization of isoprene using diethylamine as a telomer (Eq. 3.4) [8], Thus, natural or petroleum resources can be selected. 

Selective epoxidation of the isolated double bond (Equation 35) in the ester 79, prepared from citronellal and triphenyl(ethoxycarbonylmethylene)phosphorane, followed by treatment with Na2PdCl4 and v/-butyl hydroperoxide gives the bis-ether 80 <1994CC903>. 

S)-4 and/or its enantiomer (R)-4 have been prepared via resolution of an intermediate, starting from (RJ-citronellic acid,10 by stoichiometric asymmetric synthesis - 6 (76-88% ee), and by a microbiological method.17... 

Citronellal, an aldehyde with a trisubstituted double bond, was hydrogenated to citronellol over a ruthenium catalyst poisoned with lead acetate in 90-100% yields (eq. 5.22)46 or over chromium-promoted Raney Ni in 94% yield in methanol at 75°C and about 0.31 MPa H2.47 Court et al. studied the selective hydrogenation of citral (1, eq. 5.24) to citronellol over unsupported Nij. o catalysts, prepared by reduction of mixtures of metal iodides with naphthalene-sodium as reducing agent, in cyclohexane and in 2-propanol at 80°C and 1.0 MPa H2.48 Higher yields of citronellol were obtained in 2-propanol than in cyclohexane, primarily via citronellal as the predominant intermediate. The yields of citronellol for the overall hydrogenation in 2-propanol over Mo-promoted catalysts were Mo0 03 96%, Mo0 06 98%, and Mo012 96%. 

Optically active polyaldehydes possessing optically active side chains, such as poly-(R)(+)-citronellal, poly-(R)(+)-6-methoxy-4-methylhexanal, and poly-(S)(+)-2-methylbutanal, have been prepared by Goodman (1, 22). The optical activity of the polymers was enhanced as compared with their model compounds. It was concluded that the enhancements of the optical activity arose from a conformational rigidity around the asymmetric center in the side chain of the polymer. From degradation studies of the polymers it was concluded that the optical activity of the monomer was unchanged, and no racemization had occurred during polymerization and degradation. 

Kortvelyessy G (1985) Preparation of derivatives of citronellal. ActaChim Hung 119 347-354... 

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