PREPARATION AND BIOLOGIC AS’SAY OF ESTERS OF a-TOCOPHERYLHYDROQiJINONE”

Both the oxidation product of a-tocopherol, ol-tocopherylquinone, and the reduction product of the latter, a-tocopherylhydroquinone (I), have been shown to possess vitamin E activity in preventing or curing nutritional muscular dystrophy in the rabbit (1). Whiie the quinone is far more stable than the hydroquinone (I), its antidystrophic activity is of a lower order. Since I, however, is extremely susceptible to atmospheric oxidation and since both compounds are soluble only in fats or fat solvents, which for the most part are not suitable for physiological use,’ our attention was directed to the synthesis of esters of I which might obviate these two disadvantages and still retain the biologic activity of the parent compound. The present communication is a report on the preparation of four esters of a-tocopherylhydroquinone, the tetrasodium diphosphate ester (II), the disodium disuccinate (III), the diacetate (IV), and the triacetate (V), and the response of the dystrophic rabbit to the intravenous and oral administration of these substances.