Termite Trail Attractants: New Syntheses of Racemic (E)-α-, (Z)-α- and β-Bisabolenes

Abstract

Racemic (E)-α-bisabolene (E)(1) was synthetized starting from 4-methyl-3-cyclohexenecarboxylic acid (3) by a reaction sequence involving the Pd(0)-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction between the (E)-2-methyl-1-alkenyltrimethylstannane 8 and 3-methyl-2-buten-1-yl acetate (9). Three different procedures, in which a common precursor was used as key intermediate, were tested for the synthesis of racemic (Z)-α-bisabolene (Z)(1). The best one, which involved the reaction between bromide 18 and lithium dialkenylcuprate 19, afforded a mixture of (Z)- and (E)-1 in a 93 : 7 molar ratio, respectively. Finally, racemic β-bisabolene (2) was synthetized by a simple reaction sequence involving the Zr-promoted methylenation of ketone 22 prepared from 3.