Aldonic acids reduction

Reductions with sodium amalgam are fairly mild. Only easily reducible groups and conjugated double bonds are affected. With the availability of sodium borohydride the use of sodium amalgam is dwindling even in the field of saccharides, where sodium amalgam has been widely used for reduction of aldonic acids to aldoses. 

The redox and complexation chemistry of alditol/Cr(VI) systems64 and the my<9-inositol/Cr(VI) system65 has been reported. In the first case, when an excess of the alditol over Cr(VI) is used, the secondary OH groups are inert to oxidation, and alditols are selectively oxidized at the primary OH group to yield the aldonic acid as the only oxidation product. The corresponding reaction involves a Cr(VI) —> Cr(V) —> Cr(III) reduction pathway, and the relative rate of each step depends on [H+] at... 

The first surface-initiated enzymatic polymerization reported was the synthesis of amylose brushes on planar and spherical surfaces [145]. For this, silica or silicone surfaces were modified with self-assembled monolayers of (3 amino-propyl)trimethoxysilane or chlorodimethylsilane, respectively. To these functionalities, oligosaccharides were added via (a) reductive amidation of the oligosaccharides to surface-bound amines, (b) conversion of the oiigosaccharide to the according aldonic acid lactone and reaction with surface bound amines, and (c) incorporation... 

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. 

Calcium D-galactonate, I, 70 Calcium D-gluconate, III, 141, 142, 149, 152, 155, 156, 161 IV, 331 Calcium hypochlorite, III, 165 Calcium 2-keto-D-gIuconate, III, 148, 155 Calcium 5-keto-D-gluconate, III, 156 Calcium lactobionate, calcium bromide double salt, III, 155 Calcium Ievulinate, IV, 311 Calcium maltobionate, III, 161 Calcium D-mannonate, III, 152 Calcium pectate, I, 334 Calcium D-rhamnonate, III, 144 Calcium salts, in preparation of aldonic acids with NaCN, I, 23 Calcium vicianobionate, III, 154 Calcium D-xylonate, III, 155 Camphor, optically active, formed from inactive (racemic) camphor carboxylic acid in the presence of quinine, quinidine or nicotine, V, 53 Camphor carboxylic acid. See Camphor. Camphor, 3-hydroxy-, IV, 89 Camphorquinone, phytochemical reduction of, IV, 89... 

Although lactones may be reduced electrochemically or via Bouveault-Blanc reactions to produce diols, such reactions are more frequently used to prepare lactols. Both cathodic (Hg or Pb) and Na/Hg reduction are useful in the preparation of alditols from aldonic acid y-lactones. The reductions may be easily stopped at the intermediate aldose stage. ... 

The use of sodium amalgam originates with E. Fischer. The method was a cornerstone of his aldose homologation (cyanohydrin formation, hydrolysis, lactone formation and reduction) which was so important to the development of carbohydrate chemistry. Although the yields obtained by Fischer were moderate ca. 20-50%), more recent work by Sperber et al. has resulted in significant improvements. In particular, they discovered that control of the pH of the reaction mixture was very important. At pH 3-3.5, yields in the range 52-82% were obtained with a variety of aldonolactones. As an example, the preparation of arabinose is shown in equation (4). If the pH was allowed to rise, yields were lower due to overreduction. Methyl esters of aldonic acids could also be used as substrates. 

The aldehyde group of aldoses can either be oxidized or reduced and ketoses can be reduced. The best laboratory reagent for reduction is sodium boro-hydride which acts rapidly in neutral aqueous solutions (see Eq. 4-2). Since both NaB H4 and NaB H4 are available, radioactive or heavy isotope labels can be introduced in this way. The aldehyde groups can be oxidized by a variety of agents to the corresponding aldonic acids, a fact that accounts for the reducing properties of these sugars. In alkaline solution aldoses reduce Cu + ions to cuprous oxide (Eq. 4-3), silver ions... 

First, let us look at a method for converting an aldose into another aldose containing one more carbon atom, that is, at a method for lengthening the carbon chain. In 1886, Heinrich Kiliani (at the Technische Hochschule in Munich) showed that an aldose can be converted into two aldonic acids of the next higher carbon number by addition of HCN and hydrolysis of the resulting cyanohydrins. In 1890, Fischer reported that reduction of an aldonic acid (in the form of its lactone. Sec. 20.15) can be controlled to yield the corresponding aldose. In Fig. 34.2, the entire Kiliani-Ffscher synthesis is illustrated for the conversion of an aldopentose into two aldohexoses. 

Complexes of Cr111 with ascorbate, which are likely to form during the reactions of Crvl with this major intracellular reductant, have been studied (mainly by Cieslak-Golonka and co-workers),1062-1064 but no definitive structural information has been obtained to date. Partially characterized Crm complexes with monosaccharides or their oxidized derivatives (e.g., aldonic acid) have been isolated from the reactions with either Cr1111092 or CrVI.1093,1094... 

---