Longifolene is the common (or trivial) chemical name of a naturally occurring, oily liquid

hydrocarbon In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic, and their odors are usually weak or ...

found primarily in the high-boiling fraction of certain pine

resin In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on n ...

s. The name is derived from that of a

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

species from which the compound was isolated, Chemically, longifolene is a tricyclic

sesquiterpene Sesquiterpenes are a class of terpenes that consist of three isoprene units and often have the molecular formula C15H24. Like monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes may be cyclic or contain rings, including many unique combinations. Biochemical modificat ...

. This molecule is

chiral Chirality is a property of asymmetry important in several branches of science. The word ''chirality'' is derived from the Greek (''kheir''), "hand", a familiar chiral object. An object or a system is ''chiral'' if it is distinguishable from i ...

, and the enantiomer commonly found in pines and other higher plants exhibits a positive optical rotation of +42.73°. The other enantiomer (optical rotation −42.73°) is found in small amounts in certain

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

and liverworts. Longifolene is also one of two most abundant

aroma An odor (American English) or odour ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds that are generally found in low concentrations that humans and animals can perceive via their se ...

constituents of

lapsang souchong Lapsang souchong (; ) or Zhengshan xiaozhong () is a black tea consisting of leaves that are smoke-dried over a pinewood fire. This smoking is accomplished either as a cold smoke of the raw leaves as they are processed or as a hot smoke of pr ...

tea, because the tea is smoked over pinewood fires.

Occurrence and syntheses

Terpentine obtained from ''Pinus longifolia'' (obsolete name for ''

Pinus roxburghii ''Pinus roxburghii'', commonly known as chir pine or longleaf Indian pine, is a species of pine tree native to the Himalayas. It was named after William Roxburgh. Description ''Pinus roxburghii'' is a large tree reaching with a trunk diameter ...

'' Sarg.) contains as much as 20% of longifolene. The laboratory synthesis of longifolene has attracted much syntheses.

Biosynthesis

The biosynthesis of longifolene begins with farnesyl diphosphate (1) (also called farnesyl pyrophosphate) by means of a cationic polycyclization cascade. Loss of the pyrophosphate group and cyclization by the distal

alkene In organic chemistry, an alkene is a hydrocarbon containing a carbon–carbon double bond. Alkene is often used as synonym of olefin, that is, any hydrocarbon containing one or more double bonds.H. Stephen Stoker (2015): General, Organic, an ...

gives intermediate 3, which by means of a

1,3-hydride shift A sigmatropic reaction in organic chemistry is a pericyclic reaction wherein the net result is one σ-bond is changed to another σ-bond in an uncatalyzed intramolecular reaction. The name ''sigmatropic'' is the result of a compounding of the lon ...

gives intermediate 4. After two additional cyclizations, intermediate 6 produces longifolene by a 1,2-alkyl migration.

Reactions

It reacts with

borane Trihydridoboron, also known as borane or borine, is an unstable and highly reactive molecule with the chemical formula . The preparation of borane carbonyl, BH3(CO), played an important role in exploring the chemistry of boranes, as it indicated ...

to give the derivative dilongifolylborane, which is a chiral hydroborating agent.

References

External links

Longifolene Total Syntheses @ SynArchive.com
{{Terpenes Polycyclic nonaromatic hydrocarbons Sesquiterpenes Total synthesis