Development of synthetic routes to d, l-α-tocopherol (vitamin E) from biologically produced geranylgeraniol

JA Hyatt, GS Kottas, J Effler

Index: Hyatt, John A.; Kottas, Gregg S.; Effler, Janet Organic Process Research and Development, 2002 , vol. 6, # 6 p. 782 - 787

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Citation Number: 15

Abstract

The use of the biologically derived diterpene alcohol geranylgeraniol was explored as an alternative to petrochemical-based isophytol as a side-chain synthon for producing d, l-α- tocopherol. Two routes were studied, both of which begin with allylic epoxidation followed by olefin hydrogenation to give epoxyphytol. Epoxyphytol can be reduced with Red-Al to provide phytan-1, 3-diol which upon acid-catalyzed condensation with ...