I. V. Mineeva, O. Kulinkovich
Oct 12, 2008
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0
Influential Citations
29
Citations
Journal
Russian Journal of Organic Chemistry
Abstract
Methyl 3-bromomethylbut-3-enoate smoothly reacted with prenal, β-ionylideneacetaldehyde, benzyloxyacetaldehyde, and tributylchlorostannane in the presence of zinc and aqueous ammonium chloride in tetrahydrofuran to give the corresponding δ-hydroxy-β-methylidenecarboxylic acid esters. In the absence of ammonium chloride, satisfactory yields of the products were obtained only in the reactions with prenal and benzyloxyacetaldehyde; these reactions involved lactonization of intermediate δ-hydroxy-β-methylidenecarboxylic acid esters, and the double carbon-carbon bond migrated to the conjugated position with the lactone carbonyl group. The condensation of β-ionylideneacetaldehyde with methyl 3-bromomethylbut-3-enoate was successfully used to obtain isotretinoin. Initial methyl 3-bromomethylbut-3-enoate was synthesized in a good yield from readily accessible ethyl 3,3-diethoxypropionate via cyclopropanation with ethylmagnesium bromide in the presence of titanium tetra(isopropoxide), oxidation of the acetal moiety to ester, and cleavage of the cyclopropane ring in intermediate methyl (1-methylsulfonyloxycyclopropyl)acetate.