Process for preparing dihydromyrcenol and dihydromyrcenyl acetate

摘要

Described is a novel process for preparing dihydromyrcenol defined according to the structure: ##STR1## or the acetate thereof comprising the steps of: (i) hydrogenating &agr;-pinene to form &agr;- pinane; PP(ii) pyrolizing the resulting &agr;-pinane to form a mixture of hydrocarbons including dihydromyrcene (or, in the alternative, forming substantially the same mixture of hydrocarbons by other well known means);PP(iii) reacting the resulting pinane pyrolyzate or like mixture with hydrogen chloride gas in the presence of an acid catalyst, e.g., Lewis acid or protonic acid, to form a mixture of tertiary chlorides; thenPP(iv) reacting the mixture of tertiary chlorides with water or acetic acid int he presence of a hydroxylation catalyst defined according to the formula:P P M.sub.P X.sub.QPP wherein M represents an element selected from the group consisting of Zn, Ca, Mg, Mn and Co; wherein X represents O or an anion, e.g., halide hydroxide, carbonate, bicarbonate, phosphate, monobasic acid phosphate or dibasic acid phosphate; and wherein P represents an integer of 1 or 3 and Q represents an interger of 1 or 2, with the provisos that when X is a trivalent anion, then p is 3 and Q is 2 and when X is a divalent anion or is O, the P is 1 and Q is 1 and when X is a monovalent anion, then P is 1 and Q is 2; andP P(v) recovering the dihydromyrcenol or acetate thereof from the reaction product where the dihydromyrcenol or acetate thereof is produced in relatively high yields.