One-pot hydroacetylation of menadione (vitamin K ₃) to menadiol diacetate (vitamin K ₄) by heterogeneous catalysis

Vitamin K ₄ (menadiol diacetate, MDD) can be easily synthesized through cleaner and more efficient catalytic alternatives following the green chemistry principles. Ionic gold-based hydroxylated fluorides are active bi-functional catalysts for the one-pot hydroacetylation of menadione leading to MDD with 77% selectivity. Unprecedent results were obtained in the presence of oxide-fluoride catalysts by using a microwave-assisted hydrogen-transfer (Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley reaction) coupled with an acetylation approach, yielding very high selectivities for the target product (95%).