Preparation of 3-hydroxydecanoic acid: 16.5 g (50 mmol) of ethyl 3-hydroxydecanoate prepared by process (1) was co-dissolved with 10.0 g (250 mmol) of lithium hydroxide in 50 mL of a solvent mixture consisting of tetrahydrofuran and water (1:2, v/v). The reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 12 hours. Upon completion of the reaction, the reaction solution was neutralized with dilute hydrochloric acid and subsequently concentrated under reduced pressure. The concentrated residue was extracted with ethyl acetate. The ethyl acetate layer obtained from the extraction was sequentially washed with saturated brine and dried with anhydrous magnesium sulfate, followed by concentration under reduced pressure to remove the solvent. The concentrated residue was purified by silica gel column chromatography (eluent: ethyl acetate/methanol=4/6, v/v) to obtain the target product 3-hydroxydecanoic acid in 90% yield. Yield: 12.2 g (45 mmol). The product was characterized by 1H-NMR (CDCl3,500MHz): δ 0.86 (t, 3H), 1.25 (m, 14H), 1.33 (m, 2H), 2.31 (m, 2H), 3.79 (m, 1H).
