title: Access to Wieland-Miescher ketone in an enantiomerically pure form by a kinetic resolution with yeast-mediated reduction.
abstract: Both enantiomers of Wieland-Miescher ketone [3,4,8, 8a-tetrahydro-8a-methyl-1,6(2H,7H)-naphthalenedione], in a highly enantiomerically enriched form, became readily available by a newly developed kinetic resolution with yeast-mediated reduction. From a screening of yeast strains, Torulaspora delbrueckii IFO 10921 was selected. The collected cells of this strain, obtained by an incubation in a glucose medium, smoothly reduced only the isolated carbonyl group of the (S)-enantiomer, while the (R)-enantiomer remained intact. Starting from both enantiomers ( approximately 70% ee) prepared by an established proline-mediated asymmetric Robinson annulation, the reduction with T. delbrueckii gave the (R)-enantiomer (98% ee) and the corresponding alcohol (4aS,5S)-4,4a, 5,6,7,8-hexahydro-5-hydroxy-4a-methyl-2(3H)-naphthalenone (94% ee, 94% de) in preparative scale in nearly quantitative yields. An approach for the asymmetric synthesis of the Wieland-Miescher ketone was also successful. 2-Methyl-2-(3-oxobutyl)-1,3-cyclohexanedione, the prochiral precursor, was reduced with this strain to give a cyclic acetal form of (2S, 3S)-3-hydroxy-2-methyl-2-(3-oxobutyl)cyclohexanone, in a stereomerically pure form.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Keio University, 3-14-1, Hiyoshi, Yokohama 223-8522, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fuhshuku
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Funa
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Akeboshi
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohta
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hosomi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ohba
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sugai
mesh_terms: D007659:Ketones / Q000737:chemistry*; D007700:Kinetics; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D004718:Saccharomycetales / Q000378:metabolism*; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared; D013237:Stereoisomerism
chemical_list: D007659:Ketones