Synthesis Of Isophytol-side Chain Of Vitamin E

Objective: To improve synthesis of isophytol.Methods: Acetone, the starting material, reacted with vinyl chloride toobtain2-Methyl-3-butene-2-ol by Grignard reaction, and then reacted withmethyl acetoacetate to form methyl heptenone by Carroll rearrangement,followed by double similar procedures to give farnesylacetone.Subsequently, hexahydro-farnesylacetone was prepared by catalytichydrogenation at the presence of Pd/C. Finally, isophytol was obtained byGrignard reaction again.Results: The target compound and key intermediates were confirmedby MS and1H-NMR.Conclusion: The improved synthesis will benefit from simpleequipment, mild conditions, high yield (the total yield of64.4%) and couldbe readily scale-up to mass production.