Abstract

An improved and alternative method for the total synthesis of isophytol from citral via using pseudoionone intermediate was developed and described in this manuscript. This alternative commercially viable approach involves six steps and it represents an alternative method commercially viable over existing published synthetic methods in the literature. This goal was achieved by developing and optimizing an efficient and high yield procedure for the synthesis of a key intermediate i.e. 6,10,14-trimethylpentadectrimethylpentadec-5-en-2-one, by reacting 2-methoxypropene with a tertiary alcohol (3,7,11-trimethyldodec-1-ene-3-ol). Isophytol was provided in 58-60% overall yield from citral with >99% purity, evaluated by TLC, GC, and NMR.

Keywords: Isophytol, citral, pseudoionone, 2-methoxypropene, phytone, tocopherol.