A practical synthesis of the PPARα agonist, ( R)-K-13675, starting from ( S)-2-hydroxybutyrolactone

Abstract

A practical synthesis of optically pure PPARα agonist, ( R)-K-13675, is described. This process is based on the use of ( S)-2-hydroxybutyrolactone, which can be transformed into the requisite n-butyl ( S)-2-hydroxybutanoate in an efficient manner. A key reaction is the etherification between the phenol and n-butyl ( S)-2-trifluoromethanesulfonyloxybutanoate to give the phenyl ether in excellent yield without loss of optical purity.