Allo-ocimenol and its derivatives

摘要

The invention comprises a mixture of conjugated diolefinic tertiary alcohols having D15 = 0.877 and n20D = 1.4913 and having the structural formula where one of the symbols R1 and R2 is methyl and the other is ethyl and a process for producing allo-ocimenol having the empirical formula C10H18O and derivatives thereof which comprises reacting hydrogen chloride with allo-ocimene in the proportion of not more than 1 mole of hydrogen chloride per mole of allo-ocimene, hydrolysing the resulting allo-ocimene hydrochloride, prior to any substantial decomposition of same, with an aqueous base in the presence of a non-ionic emulsifying agent, and isolating allo-ocimenol, and then if desired, hydrogenating the allo-ocimenol to tetrahydro allo-ocimenol and further, if desired, esterifying the tetrahydro - allo-ocimenol. The hydrochlorination and hydrolysis steps are preferably carried out continuously. In examples technical allo-ocimene is hydrochlorinated with anhydrous hydrogen chloride alone or diluted with dry nitrogen and the resulting hydrochloride run directly into an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide and the emulsifying agent which is then stirred 20 hours at room temperature and allo-ocimenol recovered by steam distillation. The alcohol so obtained is then hydrogenated over Raney nickel to give tetrahydro-allo-ocimenol which is converted to its acetate by treatment with acetic anhydride. The compounds find application as perfume bases.