SYNTHESES IN THE TERPENE SERIES: VIII. SYNTHESIS OF THE CIS- AND TRANS-ISOMERS OF 7,7,10-TRIMETHYLDECAL-1-ONE. A CONVENIENT MODIFICATION OF THE BROWN HYDRATION REACTION

7,7,10-Trimethyl-Δ 1(9) -octal-2-one (VII) was converted to the cycloethylenedithioketal (VIII), which on Raney nickel reduction yielded 7,7,10-trimethyl-Δ 1(9) -octalin (IX). Oxidation with perbenzoic acid led to the corresponding oxide (X), which could be rearranged in low yield to an equilibrium mixture of 7,7,10-trimethyldecal-1-one consisting essentially of the trans-isomer (XI).A convenient modification of the Brown hydration reaction is described, whereby the necessity of generating diborane or of using diglyme is avoided. 7,7,10-Trimethyl-Δ 1(9) -octalin (IX) on Brown hydration using this modification stereospecifically furnished 7,7,10β-tri-methyl-cis-decal-1β-ol (XII), which was oxidized to 7,7,10-trimethyl-cis-decal-1-one (XIII). Isomerization resulted in the above-described equilibrium mixture containing at least 90% of the trans-isomer (XI). Similarly, the previously described 10-methyl-Δ 1(9) -octalin (XVI) yielded a mixture of the cis- and trans-isomers of 10-methyldecal-1-one (XIX). Syntheses of 2-methylene-7,7,10-trimethyl-Δ 1(9) -octalin (XIV) and of 7,7,10-trimethyl-cis-decal-2,3-dione 3-dithiotrimethylene ketal (XXII) are also described.