Process‐Scale Total Synthesis of Nature‐Identical (−)‐(S,S)‐7‐Hydroxycalamenal in High Enantiomeric Purity through Catalytic Enantioselective Hydrogenation

A process‐scale stereoselective synthesis of nature‐identical (−)‐(S,S)‐7‐hydroxycalamenal (=(−)‐(5S,8S)‐5,6,7,8‐tetrahydro‐3‐hydroxy‐5‐methyl‐8‐(1‐methylethyl)naphthalene‐2‐carbaldehyde; (−)‐1a) in 96% enantiomeric excess (ee) with the aid of chiral Ru complexes has been developed. The key step was the enantioselective hydrogenation of easily accessible 2‐(4‐methoxyphenyl)‐3‐methylbut‐2‐enoic acid (10) to (+)‐11 in a 86% ee (Scheme 5 and Table 1). A substantial increase in optical purity (96% ee) was achieved by induced crystallization of the intermediate (+)‐3,4‐dihydro‐4‐(1‐methylethyl)‐7‐methoxy‐2H‐naphthalen‐1‐one ((+)‐3). Computational conformation analysis carried out on the analog (−)‐9 rationalized the high diastereoselectivity achieved in the catalytic hydrogenation of the CC bond.