Synthesis of All Four Stereoisomers of (E)-Vitamin KT (Phylloquinone), Analysis of Their Diastereoisomeric and Enantiomeric Purities and Determination of Their Biopotencies

All four stereoisomers of (E)-vitamin Kb i. e. (2¹E, ⁷R, 11¹R)-l (= 1a), (2¹E, 7¹ R, l1¹S)-1 (= 1b), (2¹E, 7¹ S, 11¹S) 1 ( = 1c), and (2¹E, 7¹S, 11¹R)-l ( = Id), have been synthesized in a state of high chemical and stereoisomeric purity. The synthesis of stereoisomers lb-d relied on the use of the optically active Cf¹* and C*¹⁰-building blocks (R)- or (S)-4-(benzyloxy)-3-methylbutanal ((R)- or (S)-2) and (R)- or (S)-citronellal ((R)- or (S)- 3 ) which had been secured by the Rh¹-catalyzed allylamine-to-enamine isomerization technology. For the synthesis of the natural (E)-vitamin-K1 stereoisomer 1a , a new route starting from natural phylol was developed, based on an O-alkylation/rearrangement procedure. A HPLC method was developed which separates with remarkable efficiency all four stereoisomers of (E)- as well as three out of the four stereoisomers of (Z)-vitamin K¹ on optically active poly(trityl methacrylate) as the chiral stationary phase supported on Nucleosil. By this method, the stereoisomeric content of the stereoisomers 1b-d synthesized was shown to be in the range of 96-98 %, while the natural isomer 1a was configurationally uniform. The biological activity of the four (E)-vitamin-K₁ stereoisomers was determined by means of the curative prothrombin time test with vitamin-K-depleted chicks. A high precision of the results was obtained with the recently introduced up-and-down organization of the test and the statistical evaluation according to an estimation procedure. With the natural (E)-vitamin-K₁ stereoisomer 1a as standard (set at 1. 0), activities of 0. 93, 1. 19, and 0. 99 were found for stereoisomers 1b, 1c , and 1d , respectively. Within the confidence limits, these activity ratios can be regarded as identical, A very similar efficacy was obtained by comparison of (E, all-rac )-vitamin K₁ ((2¹E, RS, 11′ RS)- 1 ; equimolar mixture of the four stereoisomers 1a-d) with the natural (E)-vitamin-K₁ stereoisomer 1a ). A synergistic effect was not detectable, as was the case with the eight α-tocopheryl-acetate stereoisomers.