Concise and Efficient Synthesis of Linear Furocoumarins: Psoralen and 4‐Methylpsoralen

Abstract

A method for the rapid synthesis of psoralen and 4‐methylpsoralen has been developed. The key intermediates, coumarinyloxyaldehydes, were obtained in only two steps from the easily available starting materials, 7‐hydroxycoumarin derivatives, by an oxidative procedure. By using Swern oxidation, psoralen and 4‐methylpsoralen were finally produced in the overall yields of 71% and 67%, respectively.

Keywords:

• linear furocoumarins
• 4‐methylpsoralen
• psoralen
• Swern oxidation

Acknowledgment

National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30025044), Foundation from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (No. 2002CB512807), and Shanghai Municipal Scientific Foundation (Nos. 03DZ19529 and 04XD14019) are gratefully acknowledged.