Citronellol, hydrogenation

There seems, however, to-day, to be overwhelming evidence that the French chemists were correct and that citronellol and rhodinol are two very similar, but chemically different, compounds, citronellol being represented by the formula (1) and rhodinol by formula (2). Considerable evidence of this is to be found in the work of Barbier and Locquin. Starting from the acetic esters of ordinary d-citronellol and rhodinol from oil of geranium or rose, they attached hydrogen chloride to the double bond, and obtained the same additive product according to the equations — ... 

According to Skita, the reaction proceeds in a different manner if the reduction be effected with palladium chloride and hydrogen. In this case the citral in alcoholic solution is mixed with an aqueous solution of palladium chloride and the whole thickened with gum-arabic. Hydrogen gas is then forced into this solution under pressure. The products of the reduction include citronellal and citronellol and a di-molecular aldehyde, C Hj O, which probably has the following constitution —... 

Asymmetric hydrogenation of geraniol and nerol in methanol at room temperature and an initial hydrogen pressure of 90-100 atm gives citronellol in 96-99% ee and in quantitative yields. The allylic and non allylic double bonds in the substrate can be clearly differentiated to obtain the product contaminated with less than 0.5% dihydrocitronellol (Mookherjee, 1997). 

A striking difference in selectivity was observed. According to the non-acidic character of the support Cu/Si02 showed to be an excellent hydrogenation catalyst. The conjugated double bond was selectively reduced giving citronellal with fairly good selectivity and then citronellol. 

The reactor system works nicely and two model systems were studied in detail catalytic hydrogenation of citral to citronellal and citronellol on Ni (application in perfumery industty) and ring opening of decalin on supported Ir and Pt catalysts (application in oil refining to get better diesel oil). Both systems represent very complex parallel-consecutive reaction schemes. Various temperatures, catalyst particle sizes and flow rates were thoroughly screened. 

To evaluate the performance of the reactor system, the catalytic hydrogenation of citral to citronellal and citronellol in ethanol was nsed as a sample reaction. The reaction scheme is displayed below. 

Geraniol can be converted into citronellol and menthol over Cu/A1203 under catalytic hydrogenation conditions owing to chemoselective hydrogenation and a three-functional process taking place on the catalyst surface. 

Here we report that geraniol 1, under catalytic hydrogenation conditions in the presence of a Cu/A1203 catalyst, gives two valuable products, namely citronellol 2 and menthol 3. 

The hydrogenation of geraniol over Cu/A1203 in hydrocarbon solvents gives mixtures of citronellol 2 and menthol 3. 

Citronellol is formed through selective hydrogenation of the C=C bond activated by the presence of the OH group, whereas menthol 3 is the product of a three-functional process involving isomerization of the allylic alcohol 1 to citronellal 4, ene reaction to isopulegol 5 and final hydrogenation (Scheme 2). 

Both the rhodium and ruthenium catalysts have been used to successively hydrogenate the terpene geraniol (3) to citronellol (4) and 3,7-dimethyl-octanol (J08) ... 

Catalytic hydrogenation of citronellal provides (+)-citronellol with high optical purity (Equation (3)). 

Complexes containing one binap ligand per ruthenium (Fig. 3.5) turned out to be remarkably effective for a wide range of chemical processes of industrial importance. During the 1980s, such complexes were shown to be very effective, not only for the asymmetric hydrogenation of dehydroamino adds [42] - which previously was rhodium s domain - but also of allylic alcohols [77], unsaturated acids [78], cyclic enamides [79], and functionalized ketones [80, 81] - domains where rhodium complexes were not as effective. Table 3.2 (entries 3-5) lists impressive TOF values and excellent ee-values for the products of such reactions. The catalysts were rapidly put to use in industry to prepare, for example, the perfume additive citronellol from geraniol (Table 3.2, entry 5) and alkaloids from cyclic enamides. These developments have been reviewed by Noyori and Takaya [82, 83]. 

Another example from Liu s team in this field concerns the selective hydrogenation of citronellal to citronellol by using a Ru/PVP colloid obtained by NaBH4 reduction method [112]. This colloid contains relatively small particles with a narrow size distribution (1.3 to 1.8 nm by TEM), whereas the metallic state of Ru was confirmed by XPS investigation. This colloid exhibited a selectivity to citronellol of 95.2% with a yield of 84.2% (total conversion 88.4%), which represented a good result for a monometallic catalyst. 

Enantioselective hydrogenation of unsaturated alcohols such as allylic and homoallylic alcohols was not very efficient until the discovery of the BINAP-Ru catalyst. With Ru(BINAP)(OAc)2 as the catalyst, geraniol and nerol are successfully hydrogenated to give (S)- or (R)-citronellol in near-quantitative yield and with 96-99% ee [3 c]. A substratexatalyst ratio (SCR) of up to 48 500 can be applied, and the other double bond at the C6 and C7 positions of the substrate is not reduced. A high hydrogen pressure is required to obtain high enantioselec-... 

Ru(II)-BINAP complexes (1) can effect enantioselective hydrogenation of pro-chiral ally lie and homoallylic alcohols, without hydrogenation of other double bonds in the same substrate.1 The alcohols geraniol (2) and nerol (3) can be reduced to either (R)- or (S)-citronellol (4) by choice of either (R)- or (S)-l. Thus the stereochemical outcome depends on the geometry of the double bond and the chirality... 

Recently, it has been shown that ultrasonic agitation during hydrogenation reactions over skeletal nickel can slow catalyst deactivation [122-124], Furthermore, ultrasonic waves can also significantly increase the reaction rate and selectivity of these reactions [123,124], Cavitations form in the liquid reaction medium because of the ultrasonic agitation, and subsequently collapse with intense localized temperature and pressure. It is these extreme conditions that affect the chemical reactions. Various reactions have been tested over skeletal catalysts, including xylose to xylitol, citral to citronellal and citronellol, cinnamaldehyde to benzenepropanol, and the enantioselective hydrogenation of 1-phenyl-1,2-propanedione. Ultrasound supported catalysis has been known for some time and is not peculiar to skeletal catalysts [125] however, research with skeletal catalysts is relatively recent and an active area. 

A characteristic example for the application of homogeneous catalysts in enantiose-lective and regioselective hydrogenation of dienic compounds is the hydrogenation of geraniol and nerol to citronellol with Ru-BINAP catalyst (equation 8)26,27. The high enantiomeric excesses (96-98%), the nearly quantitative yields (>95%) and the very low catalyst/substrate ratio (1 50000) are attractive attributes of this process. 

ASYMMETRIC HYDROGENATION OF ALLYLIC ALCOHOLS USING BINAP-RUTHENIUM COMPLEXES (S)-(-)-CITRONELLOL (6-Octen-1-ol, 3,7-dimethyl, (S)-)... 

Crude BINAP-Ru complex with consistent spectral characteristics can be used for hydrogenation of geraniol (98.7% pure commercial geraniol containing 1.3% of nerol, distilled from 4 A molecular sieves, 4.7 M substrate in 95% aqueous methanol, 2.8 mM Ru(OCOCH3)2[(R)-BINAP], 100 atm of H2, 20°C, 8 hr), to give (S)-citronellol in 96% ee, 97% isolated yield. 

Enantioselectivity is very dependent on hydrogen pressure. Optical purities of citronellol products are 70% and 95% at 4 and 30 atm, respectively. Thus, hydrogen pressure greater than 90 atm is required for high optical yields. 

The procedure for the synthesis of the title compound is a representative example of asymmetric hydrogenation in the presence of BINAP-Ru(ll) diacetate.5 The method is based on the synthesis of BINAP-Ru(ll) dicarboxylate complexes and enantioselective hydrogenation of geraniol.7 The present method provides the first practical means for asymmetric synthesis of (S)- and (R)-citronellol. (S)-(-)-Citronellol of optical purity up to 92% can be obtained in a limited quantity from rose oil. A microbiological reduction of geraniol was reported to give enantiomerically pure (R)-(+)-citronellol. ... 

A second nonselective synthesis involved chain extension of the tosylate of ( )-citronellol (82) with 2-methylpentyl magnesium bromide and lithium tetrachlorocuprate catalysis to give the carbon skeleton 83 (Scheme 12A) [92]. Allylic oxidation with Se02 and ferf-butylhydroperoxide, hydrogenation of the... 

The BINAP-Rh catalyzed hydrogenation of functionalized olefins has a mechanistic drawback as described in Section 1.2.1. This problem was solved by the exploitation of BINAP-Ru(ll) complexes.Ru(OCOCH3)2(binap) catalyzes highly enantioselective hydrogenation of a variety of olefinic substrates such as enamides, a, (3- and (3,y-unsaturated carboxylic acids, and allylic and homoallylic alcohols (Figure 1.9). " " Chiral citronellol is produced in 300 ton quantity in year by this reaction. ... 

Selective catalytic hydrogenation with chromium-promoted Raney nickel is reported (e.g. citral and citronellal to citronellol) NaHCr2(CO)io and KHFe(CO)4 reduction of a/3-unsaturated ketones (e.g. citral to citronellal) has been described (cf. Vol. 7, p. 7). The full paper on selective carbonyl reductions on alumina (Vol. 7, p. 7) has been published." Dehydrogenation of monoterpenoid alcohols over liquid-metal catalysts gives aldehydes and ketones in useful yields. ... 

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. 

Preparation of (—)-Citronellol from Optically Active Pinenes. (+)-ci5-Pinane is readily synthesized by hydrogenation of (+)-0 -pinene or (+)-/3-pinene, and is then pyrolyzed to give (+)-3,7-dimethyl-l,6-octadiene. This compound is converted into (-)-citronellol (97% purity) by reaction with triisobutylalumi-num or diisobutylaluminum hydride, followed by air oxidation and hydrolysis of the resulting aluminum alcoholate [50]. 

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