Tocopherols structures

The tocopherol structure indicates three positions of asymmetry at C-2 in the ring and C-4 and C-8 in the side-chain. Natural a-tocopherol, the most important vitamin of the group, has the (27 ,4 / ,8 / ) configuration [45], as... 

Riboflavin, physiology and biochemistry of formation 84PHA805. Tocopherol, chemistry and natural occurrence of 81KPS263. Tocopherol, structure and functions of 86ACR194. 

Terpenic-type intermediates of use in formation of the side-chain in tocopherols have been derived from myrcene (ref. 118). Thus, a mixture of E- and Z-isomers from its hydrochlorination which resulted in a dichloroderivative containing primary and tertiary halide groups was reacted with trimethylhydroquinone in dioxane/dichloromethane containing zinc chloride, zinc and hydrogen chloride to afford an 89% yield of a chloro intermediate. Dehydrochlorination in methanol with sodium hydroxide afforded a mixture of pentenyl compounds which was isomerised with toluenesulphonic acid in refluxing benzene to 6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8-tetramethyl-2-(4-methyl-3-pentenyl)chroman. The elaboration of the side-chain to produce the tocopherol structure was not described and the synthesis is not stereospecific... 

The structure of vitamin E in its most active form, o-tocopherol, is shown in Figure 18.38. a-Tocopherol is a potent antioxidant, and its function in animals and humans is often ascribed to this property. On the other hand, the molecular details of its function are almost entirely unknown. One possible role for... 

Examine the geometry of the most stable radical. Is the bonding in the aromatic ring fuUy delocalized (compare to model alpha-tocopherol), or is it localized Also, examine the spin density surface of the most stable radical. Is the unpaired electron localized on the carbon (oxygen) where bond cleavage occurred, or is it delocalized Draw all of the resonance contributors necessary for a full description of the radical s geometry and electronic structure. 

Tocopherols come in various forms only slightly different from the a-tocopherol shown in the structural formula above. Its (3 and y forms differ in where the methyl groups are attached to the ring structure. An ingredients list may single out the a form, or may just list mixed tocopherols. ... 

Among the plant phenols, the flavonoids and the anthocyanidins, belonging to the 1,3-diphenylpropans, have been studied in most detail, mainly because of their potential health benefits. With more than 4,000 different flavonoids known, systematic studies of the effects of variation in molecular structure on physico-chemical properties of importance for antioxidative effects have also been possible (Jovanovic et al, 1994 Seeram and Nair, 2002). Flavonoids were originally found not to behave as efficiently as the classic phenolic antioxidants like a-tocopherol and synthetic phenolic antioxidants in donating... 

Tocopherols and tocotrienols belong to the vitamin E family of compounds, which are potent antioxidants. The four isomers of tocotrienols (a-T3, P-T3, y-T3, 8-T3) are structurally related to their corresponding homologues of tocopherols (a-T, p-T, y-T, 8-T), but differ in their side-chain in that T3... 

It has been established that carotenoid structure has a great influence in its antioxidant activity for example, canthaxanthin and astaxanthin show better antioxidant activities than 3-carotene or zeaxanthin. 3- 3 3-Carotene also showed prooxidant activity in oil-in-water emulsions evaluated by the formation of lipid hydroperoxides, hexanal, or 2-heptenal the activity was reverted with a- and y-tocopherol. Carotenoid antioxidant activity against radicals has been established. In order of decreasing activity, the results are lycopene > 3-cryptoxanthin > lutein = zeaxanthin > a-carotene > echineone > canthaxanthin = astaxanthin. ... 

Naturally occurring oxaarenes based on polycyclic pyrans encompass a plethora of structures including the plant polyphenols such as anthocyanins and a-tocopherol (vitamin E). Halogenated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans are formed both as by-products during the manufacture of chlorophenols, and from the incineration of organic matter in the presence of inorganic halides. 

Addition of such a-lithiosulfinyl carbanions to aldehydes could proceed with asymmetric induction at the newly formed carbinol functionality. One study of this process, including variation of solvent, reaction temperature, base used for deprotonation, structure of aldehyde, and various metal salts additives (e.g., MgBrj, AlMej, ZnClj, Cul), has shown only about 20-25% asymmetric induction (equation 22) . Another study, however, has been much more successful Solladie and Moine obtain the highly diastereocontrolled aldol-type condensation as shown in equation 23, in which dias-tereomer 24 is the only observed product, isolated in 75% yield This intermediate is then transformed stereospecifically via a sulfoxide-assisted intramolecular 8, 2 process into formylchromene 25, which is a valuable chiron precursor to enantiomerically pure a-Tocopherol (Vitamin E, 26). 

FIGURE 6.1 Chemical structure of a-tocopherol (1) and its model compound PMC (la). Here and in the following the R-substituent denotes the Reconfigured isoprenoid C16H33 side chain of the tocopherol. 

Chromanoxylium cation 4 preferably adds nucleophiles in 8a-position producing 8a-substituted tocopherones 6, similar in structure to those obtained by radical recombination between C-8a of chromanoxyl 2 and coreacting radicals (Fig. 6.4). Addition of a hydroxyl ion to 4, for instance, results in a 8a-hydroxy-tocopherone, which in a subsequent step gives the /zara-tocopherylquinone (7), the main (and in most cases, the only) product of two-electron oxidation of tocopherol in aqueous media. A second interesting reaction of chromanoxylium cation 4 is the loss of aproton at C-5a, producing the o-QM 3. This reaction is mostly carried out starting from tocopherones 6 or /zora-tocopherylquinone (7) under acidic catalysis, so that chromanoxylium 4 is produced in the first step, followed by proton elimination from C-5a. In the overall reaction of a tocopherone 6, a [ 1,4] -elimination has occurred. The central species in the oxidation chemistry of a-tocopherol is the o-QM 3, which is discussed in detail subsequently. 

In contrast to the a-tocopheroxyl radical (2) and chromanoxylium cation 4 for which the oxidation allows only one structure to form, generation of an o-QM from a-tocopherol could proceed, theoretically, involving either of the two methyl groups C-5a or C-7a. The reason for the large selectivity of o-QM formation, that is, the nearly exclusive involvement of position 5a, will be discussed in more detail in Section 6.3.1. The overall formation of the o-QM from the parent phenol a-tocopherol means a loss of H2, or more detailed, of two electrons and two protons. In which order and as which species those are released, for example, as protons, H-atoms, or hydride ions, will have major implications on o-QM formation and chemistry, which is discussed in Section 6.3.2. 

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... 

The electrostatic interactions in the complexes 19 were obviously sufficient to favor the zwitterionic structure in a manner that formation of the usual o-QM was suspended, so that all reactions typical of o-QMs in their quinoid form (such as [4 + 2]-cycloadditions) were suppressed or at least slowed down. Decomposition of the complex of a-tocopherol was immediate by fast heating to 40 °C or above. This caused disintegration of the complex 19, immediate rotation of the methylene group into the ring plane, and thus formation of the o-QM, which then showed the classical chemistry of such compounds. 

The oxidation of a-tocopherol (1) to dimers29,50 and trimers15,51 has been reported already in the early days of vitamin E chemistry, including standard procedures for near-quantitative preparation of these compounds. The formation generally proceeds via orf/zo-quinone methide 3 as the key intermediate. The dimerization of 3 into spiro dimer 9 is one of the most frequently occurring reactions in tocopherol chemistry, being almost ubiquitous as side reaction as soon as the o-QM 3 occurs as reaction intermediate. Early accounts proposed numerous incorrect structures,52 which found entry into review articles and thus survived in the literature until today.22 Also several different proposals as to the formation mechanisms of these compounds existed. Only recently, a consistent model of their formation pathways and interconversions as well as a complete NMR assignment of the different diastereomers was achieved.28... 

The spiro polymerization is a novel reaction type that uses the spiro dimerization of o-QMs to build up linear oligomers and polymers. The basic properties of the spiro dimer of a-tocopherol, that is, its fluxional structure and its ready reduction to the ethano-dimer, remain also active when such structural units are bound in the polymer. The products of the reaction, both in its poly(spiro dimeric) form (41) and in the form of the reduced polytocopherols (42), are interesting materials for application as high-capacity antioxidants, polyradical precursors, or organic metals, to name but a few. 

An interesting feature of 5-tocopherylacetic acid (51) and its derivatives was their appreciable thermal stability up to 200 °C. In contrast to 5a-substituted tocopherols carrying an electronegative substituent at C-5a, the homopolar C—C bond in the C2-unit at the 5-position of the tocopherol skeleton was shown to be very stable. Thermal decomposition of 51 at temperatures above 250 ° C caused a complete breakdown of the chroman structure, the C3-unit consisting of C-2, C-2a, and C-3 being eliminated as propyne, the side chain as 4,8,12-trimethyltridec-l-ene (Fig. 6.38). Fragmentation... 

Oxo-a-tocopherol (55) proved to be a very interesting compound with regard to forming various intermediate tautomeric and quinoid structures. It undergoes an intriguing rearrangement of its skeleton under involvement of different o-QM structures. The 4-oxo-compound was prepared from 3,4-dehydro-a-tocopheryl acetate via its bromohydrin, which was treated with ZnO to afford 4-oxo-a-tocopherol (55). 

FIGURE 6.45 Inability of 5a-substituted derivatives to form structures analogous to o-QM 3 causes increased oxidative stability as in compounds 71 and 72. 5-(p-Hydroxyphenyl)-y-tocopherol (73) is oxidized to the conjugatively stabilized o-QM 74, the phenylogous a-tocored (75). 

Schudel, P. Mayer, H. Metzger, J. Riiegg, R. Isler, O. Chemistry of vitaminE n. Structure of potassium ferricyanide oxidation product of tocopherol. Helv. Chim. Acta 1963, 46, 636-649. 

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