STUDIES IN LONG-CHAIN ACIDS. PART VII

Attempt has been made to synthesise ambrettolic acid by Bouveault reduction of the half ester of ∆⁶-tetradecene-I : I4-dicarboxylic acid.

Kerschbaum (Ber., 1920, 60, 902) isolated the odoriferous principle of muskkernel oil and showed it to be the lactone of a hydroxy unsaturated acid, namely ambrettolic acid (I). The lactone, known as ambrettolide (II), possesses a strong smell of musk.