Synthesis via o-QM 3 and Reaction Behavior of 3- 5-Tocopheryl propionic Acid

5 Synthesis via o-QM 3 and Reaction Behavior of 3-(5-Tocopheryl) propionic Acid 

3-(5-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 

FIGURE 6.37 Synthesis of 3-(5-tocopheryl)-propionic acid (50) by trapping the intermediate ortho-QM 3 with a ketene acetal. Reaction products of 50 are formed in complete analogy to a-tocopherol (1). 

---