One-pot synthesis of diisobornyl ether from camphene using heteropoly acid catalysts

Abstract

A novel one-pot catalytic synthesis of diisobornyl ether directly from camphene ( 1) has been developed. The reaction occurs under near ambient conditions in the presence of dissolved or silica-supported heteropoly acid H 3PW 12O 40 (PW) as a catalyst to give diisobornyl ether ( 2) with up to 90% selectivity at 50–60% conversion, along with isoborneol ( 3). Ether 2 appears to be a new compound; it was isolated as a mixture of meso and dl stereoisomers and fully characterized by MS-GC, NMR and IR spectroscopy. The supported PW catalyst can be easily separated and reused; no PW leaching from support was observed during the reaction. Conventional acid catalysts such as H 2SO 4 or Amberlyst-15 showed no activity in this reaction.