Carotenoids with 7‐Oxabicyclo[2,2.1]heptyl End Groups. Attempted Synthesis of Cycloviolaxanthin ( = (3S,5R,6S,3′S,5′R,6′R)‐3,6:3′,6′‐ Diepoxy‐5,6,5′,6′‐tetrahydro‐β,β‐carotin‐5,5′‐diol) Starting from our recently described synthon (+)‐24, the enantiomerically pure 3,6:4,5:3′,6′:4′,5′‐tetraepoxy‐4,5,4′,5′‐tetrahydro‐ε,ε‐carotene (34) and its 15,15′‐didehydro analogue 32 were synthesized in eleven and nine steps, respectively (Scheme 4). Chiroptical data show, in contrast to the parent ε,ε‐carotene, a very weak interaction between the chiral centers at C(5), C(5′), C(6), C(6′), and the polyene system. Diisobutylaluminium hydride reduction of 32 lead rather than to the expected 15,15′‐didehydro analogue 35 of Cycloviolaxanthin (8), to the polyenyne 36 (Scheme 5). We explain this reaction by an oxirane rearrangement leading to a cyclopropyl ether followed by a fragmentation to an aldehyd on the one side and an enol ether on the other (Scheme 6). This complex rearrangement includes a shift of the whole polyenyne chain from C(6), C(6′) to C(5), C(5′) of the original molecule.

Carotenoids mit 7‐Oxabicyclo[2.2.1]heptyl‐End Groups. Synthesis of (2S,5R,6S,2′S,5′R,6′S)‐2,5:2′5′‐Diepoxy‐5,6,5′,6′‐tetrahydro‐β,β‐carotene Mukayama's ester 6 (methyl (1S,2R,5S)‐2,5‐epoxy‐2,6,6‐trimethylcyclohexane‐1‐carboxylate) was transformed in a few conventional steps into the title compound 14. Its CD curve was found to be significantly different from that of the analogous 3,6‐epoxide, a fact we tentatively lake as an indication of a (weak) electronic interaction between the ring O‐atom and the π‐orbitals of the polyene chain.