Synthesis of 3-substituted furans and the formation of 3-(4,8,12-tri-methyltridecyl)furan

Abstract
3-(4,8,12-Trimethyltridecyl)furan (I) was isolated from cigarette smoke condensate and its structure was confirmed by synthesis. During attempts at synthesis, two general routes to 3-substituted furans were investigated. In the first, greatly improved procedures for the preparation of 3-furoic acid were devised; the second involved thermal cyclisation and dehydration of 1,2,3,4-tetraols.