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COMMUNICATIONS TO THE EDITOR
structure be called 8(14),9-steradiene-6,ij1 1,12tetracarboxylic-6,i, 11; 12-dianhydride. BUREAUOF ANIMAL 'INDUSTRY LEWISW. BUTZ UNITEDSTATESDEPARTMENT OF ADAMM. GADDIS W. J. BUTZ AGRICULTURE ELEANORE BELTSVILLE, MARYLAND RUSSELL E. DAVIS RECEIVED MARCH18, 1940 FURTHER COMPOUNDS HAVING ANTIHEMORRHAGIC ACTIVITY
Sir :
Vol. 62
dihydride (active a t 6 7 , hydroquinone diacetate, m. p. 57-58') and P,r,5,8,7,8-hexahydride (slight activity, diacetate derivative, m. p. 53') have been obtained in analytically pure form. Both butadiene-toluquinone and 2-methyl-5,8-dihydro1,4-naphthohydroquinone show marked activity, the latter a t dosages as low as 8 y. A by-product of the vitamin KI synthesis, characterized as a ketonic substance of the formula C31H~02[found: C , 82.38; H, 10.65; maxima a t 253 and 300 mp; 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone m. p. 107-108'], shows moderate vitamin K activity (50 y ) . The Zerewitinoff determination indicates the presence of one active hydrogen and one carbonyl group. Aluminum isopropylate reduction gives a diol, probably C31H6202 [found: C, 81.52; H, 11.481,and pyrolysis of the byproduct gives rise to small amounts of vitamin K1. The isomeric naphthotocopherol [found: C, 82.30; H , 10.69; maxima a t 246 and 320 mp; p nitrobenzoate, m. p. 84-85'] is active a t a higher level (300 7); on oxidation it yields a yellow hydroxyquinone [found: C, 79.19; H, 10.171.
I n an investigation involving the synthesis and assay of a number of additional naphthoquinones and derived or related products, considerable data have been accumulated on the problem of correlating vitamin K activity and structure which will be presented after completion of adequate assays on the entire series of compounds synthesized in the two Laboratories. In the meantime we wish to report certain observations from the synthetic work and give some indication of the potencies of the new compounds. The method developed by one of us for the synthesis of vitamin KI [Fieser, THISJOURNAL,61, MEMORIAL LABORATORY 2559, 3467 (1939)] has been found capable of CONVERSE HARVARD UNIVERSITY, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. L. F. FIESER wide application. By using I,.l-naphthohydro- RESEARCH M. TISHLER LABORATORIES, MERCKAND W. L. SAMPSON Co., INC.,AND MERCK INSTITUTE FOR quinone as one component 2-geranyl, 2-farnesyl, THERAPEUTIC RESEARCH and 2-phytyl-1,4-naphthoquinone have been syn- RAHWAY, NEWJERSEY RECEIVED MARCH20, 1940 thesized in good yield. The phytyl compound [yellow oil, found: C, 82.82; H, 10.311 is the THERMAL DECOMPOSITION OF ACETONE most active member of the series and gives a full CATALYZED BY IODINE response in the chick assay a t 5 0 y . Similarly S i r : the 3-farnesyl derivative of 2-methyl-1,4-naphthoSeveral investigators1 have shown that small quinone [found: C, 82.97; H, 8.981 is more potent than the 2-geranyl derivative but some- amounts of iodine sensitize the thermal decomwhat less active than vitamin K1. The synthesis position of various organic compounds. In the is also applicable in the benzohydroquinone series. case of acetone, Bairstow and Hinshelwood" have 2,3,5-Trimethyl-6-phytyl-l,4-benzoquinone[yel- reported that the decomposition was not apprecilow oil, found: C, 81.04; H, 11.00, hydroquinone ably affected by the presence of iodine. However, diacetate, m. p. 56'1 shows no vitamin K activity Rice and Weiler2 observed that the decomposibut i t provides a new route to a vitamin E factor. tion of acetone containing methyl iodide was apBy treatment with stannous chloride in acetic- preciably faster than the rate for pure acetone. hydrochloric acid the quinone was converted Moreover i t was found that the addition of apsmoothly into a-tocopherol, identified through proximately 1% of ethyl iodide enormously inthe allophanate, m. p. 175-176') and p-nitro- creased the rate of decomposition of acetone a t phenylurethan, m. p. 130'. Butadiene-toluqui- 526°.3 When a small a p o u n t of ethyl iodide was none condenses with phytol under the usual condi- allowed to decompose completely in the reactions but a t the reflux temperature, giving rise to tion vessel first and then the acetone added, a 2 - methyl - 3 - phytyl - 5,s - dihydro - 1,4 - naph- large increase in the rate also was observed. This (a) Bairstow and Hinshelwood, J . Chem. SOC., 1147 (1933); thoquinone [found: C, 82.27; H, 10.861, which (b)(1)P. 4. K.Clusius, ibid., 2607 (1930); (c) Paul1 and Rollefson, THIS is active a t a level of 5-6 y. By hydrogenating J U I J X I Z . ~ I . , 58, 1755 (lY3t;); Hollefsou and Garrison, ibid., 62, 588 synthetic vitamin K1 and purifying the products (1Y40). (2) Weiler, Dissertation, Johns Hopkins University, 1930. in the form of the solid hydroquinones, the Ply(3) Rice and Walters, unpublished results.
