Synthesis and odor of chiral partial structures of beta -vetivone: Part 1

Several, stereoisomeric, monocyclic analogs of (-)- beta -vetivone, one of the main constituents of vetiver oil, were studied to determine whether the olfactory properties of (-)- beta -vetivone could be reproduced from these structurally simpler, synthetically accessible compounds. The effects of diastereomeric and enantiomeric structural differences on the odor of the partial vetivone structure were determined. A chiral phenyl sulfoximine was used for separation of the racemic mixtures. Detailed nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic studies ( super(1)H, super(13)C) were used to determine relative configurations while absolute configurations were determined by circular dichroism (CD) methods.