Aldonic acids, oxidation

Much of the chemistry of monosaccharides is the familiar chemistry of alcohols and aldehydes/ketones. Thus, the hydroxyl groups of carbohydrates form esters and ethers. The carbonyl group of a monosaccharide can be reduced with NaBH4 to form an alditol, oxidized with aqueous Br2 to form an aldonic acid, oxidized with HNO3 to form an aldaric acid, oxidized enzymatically to form a uronic acid, or treated with an alcohol in the presence of acid to form a glycoside. Monosaccharides can also be chain-lengthened by the multistep Kiliani-Fischer synthesis and can be chain-shortened by the Wohl degradation. 

Monosaccharides can be oxidized at the aldehyde carbon to give carboxylic acids called aldonic acids. Oxidation at both ends of the carbon chain gives aldaric acids. Reduction of the carbonyl group to an alcohol gives polyols called alditols. The -OH groups in sugars, like those in simpler alcohols, can be esterified or etherified. 

There are a number of ways in which an aldose can be converted into another aldose of one less carbon atom. One of these methods for shortening the carbon chain is the Ruff degradation. An aldose is oxidized by bromine water to the aldonic acid oxidation of the calcium salt of this acid by hydrogen peroxide in the presence of ferric salts yields carbonate ion and an aldose of one less carbon atom (see Fig. 34.3). 

The most easily oxidized groups in an aldose are the aldehyde at one end and the primary alcohol at the other. Oxidation of CH=0 gives an aldonic acid oxidation of CH2OH gives a uronic acid, and oxidation of both gives an aldaric acid. 

Under mild conditions, e. g., with bromine water in buffered neutral or alkaline media, aldoses are oxidized to aldonic acids. Oxidation involves the lactol group exclusively. 3-Pyranose is oxidized more rapidly than the a-form. Since the P-form is more acidic (cf. 4.2.1.3), it can be considered that the pyranose anion is the reactive form. The oxidation product is the 5-lactone which is in equilibrium with the y-lactone and the free form of aldonic acid. The latter form prevails at pH > 3. 

Derivatives of aldoses in which the terminal aldehyde function is oxidized to a car boxylic acid are called aldonic acids Aldonic acids are named by replacing the ose ending of the aldose by omc acid Oxidation of aldoses with bromine is the most com monly used method for the preparation of aldonic acids and involves the furanose or pyranose form of the carbohydrate... 

When a preparative method for an aldonic acid is re quired bromine oxidation is used The aldonic acid is formed as its lactone More properly described as a reaction of the anomeric hy droxyl group than of a free aldehyde... 

Other multifunctional hydroxycarboxylic acids are mevalonic and aldonic acids which can be prepared for specialized uses as aldol reaction products (mevalonic acid [150-97-0] (13)) and mild oxidation of aldoses (aldonic acids). 

PolysuWde Process. One modification to the kraft process being appHed commercially is the polysulfide process (38). Under alkaline conditions and relatively low temperature (100—120°C), polysulfides oxidize the active end group of the polysaccharide polymer to an alkaH-stable aldonic acid. This reaction, known for many years (39), was not produced on a commercial scale until the development of an efficient method for in situ generation of the polysulfide in kraft white Hquor. 

Oxidation to Sugar Acids and Lactones. When the aldehyde group of an aldose is oxidized, the resulting compound is an aldonic acid (salt form = aldonate) (11)4. Some aldonic acids are products of carbohydrate metaboHsm. 

Aldonic acid (Section 25.19) Carboxylic acid obtained by oxidation of the aldehyde function of an aldose. 

Although the Tollens reaction is a useful test for reducing sugars, it doesn t give good yields of aldonic acid products because the alkaline conditions cause decomposition of the carbohydrate. For preparative purposes, a buffered solution of aqueous Br2 is a better oxidant. The reaction is specific for aldoses ketoses are not oxidized by aqueous Br2. 

Aldonic acid (Section 25.6) The monocarboxylic acid resulting from mild oxidation of the -CHO group of an aldose. 

Oxidation of Aldonic Acids. Preferential oxidation of the secondary alcoholic group adjacent to the carboxyl group in sugar acids or aldonic acids such as L-gulonic acid (XXV) can be carried out with chromic acid12 or with chlorates in the presence of a vanadium catalyst.13... 

G. Hourdin, The catalysis of the Ruff oxidative degradation of aldonic acids by titanium-containing zeolites, Catal. Lett., 69 (2000) 241-244. 

In a similar fashion it should be a relatively simple task to relate the well-known D-gala-L-manno-heptose (XX) to a-rhamnohexose (XXII)81 through the known 1-desoxy-D-gala-L-mcmno-heptitol (syn., 7-desoxy-L-manno-L- aZa-heptitol) (XXI).81 In. this particular case, however, there is already ample proof of the configuration of the latter sugar (XXII) because nitric acid has been found to oxidize the corresponding aldonic acid to mucic acid.82... 

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