Synthesis of carbon-13-labeled tetradecanoic acids

The synthesis of tetradecanoic acid enriched with 13C at carbons 1, 3, or 6 is described. The label at the carbonyl carbon was introduced by treating 1-bromotridecane with K13CN (90% enriched) to form the 13C-labeled nitrile, which upon hydrolysis yielded the desired acid. The [3-13C]tetradecanoic acid was synthesized by alkylation of diethyl sodio-malonate with [1-13C]1-bromododecane; the acid was obtained upon saponification and decarboxylation. The label at the 6 position was introduced by coupling the appropriately labeled alkylcadmium chloride with the half acid chloride methyl ester of the appropriate dioic acid, giving the corresponding oxo fatty acid ester. Formation of the tosylhydrazone of the oxo-ester followed by reduction with sodium cyanoborohydride gave the labeled methyl tetradecanoate which, upon hydrolysis, yielded the desired tetradecanoic acid. All tetradecanoic acids were identical to unlabeled analogs as evaluated by gas-liquid chromatography and infrared or NMR spectroscopy. These labeled fatty acids were used subsequently to prepare the correspondingly labeled diacyl phosphatidylcholines.