Aldoses

SchifT s reagent A solution of rosaniline in water decolorized with sulphurous acid. Aliphatic aldehydes and aldose sugars give a magenta colour with this reagent with aromatic aldehydes and aliphatic ketones the colour develops more slowly aromatic ketones do not react. 

Carbohydrates may be divided into monosaccharides, disaccharides and polysaccharides. The monosaccharides under certain conditions react as polyhydroxy-aldehydes or polyhydroxy-ketones two important representatives are glucose CjHjjO (an aldose) and fructose (laevulose) CgHuO, (a ketose). Upon hydrolysis di- and polysaccharides 3deld ultimately monosaccharides. Common disaccharides are sucrose, lactose and maltose (all of molecular formula C,2H2. 0,), whilst starch, dextrin and cellulose, (CjHjoOj), in which n > 4, are typical polysaccharides. 

Methylphenylosazones. cw-Methylphenylhydrazine does not form osazones with aldoses presumably because the base or more probably the methylphenylhydrazonium ion [CgH5NCH3NH3]+ will oxidise a—CHjOH but not a >CHOH group it readily forms osazones with ketoses, thus providing an excellent reagent for fructose. 

The simple sugars or monosaccharides are polyhydroxy aldehydes or ketones, and belong to Solubility Group II. They are termed tetroses, pentoses, hexoses. etc. according to the number of carbon atoms in the long chain constituting the molecule, and aldoses or ketoses if they are aldehydes or ketones. Most of the monosaccharides that occur in nature are pentoses and hexoses. 

Both aldoses and ketoses reduce Fehling s solution (for details, see under 4). This fact may appear surprising when it is remembered that Fehling s solution is one of the reagents for distinguishing between aldehydes and ketones (see 4). The explanation lies in the fact that a-hydroxyketones are much more readily oxidised than simple ketones, perhaps because the hydroxy ketone allows its isomerisation, in the presence of alkali, into an aldehyde. For example, fructose, a keto-hexose, might Isomerlse thus ... 

Another reaction that is characteristic of a-hydroxy aldehydes or ketones, which has been found of value for the characterisation of sugars, is the formation of osazones with phenylhydrazine. This reagent reacts with either an aldose... 

Over 200 different monosaccharides are known They can be grouped according to the number of carbon atoms they contain and whether they are polyhydroxy aide hydes or polyhydroxy ketones Monosaccharides that are polyhydroxy aldehydes are called aldoses, those that are polyhydroxy ketones are ketoses Aldoses and ketoses are further classified according to the number of carbon atoms m the mam chain Table 25 1 lists the terms applied to monosaccharides having four to eight carbon atoms... 

As shown for the aldotetroses an aldose belongs to the d or the l series accord mg to the configuration of the chirality center farthest removed from the aldehyde func tion Individual names such as erythrose and threose specify the particular arrangement of chirality centers within the molecule relative to each other Optical activities cannot be determined directly from the d and l prefixes As if furns ouf bofh d eryfhrose and D fhreose are levorofafory buf d glyceraldehyde is dexfrorofafory... 

Aldoses incorporate two functional groups C=0 and OH which are capable of react mg with each other We saw m Section 17 8 that nucleophilic addition of an alcohol function to a carbonyl group gives a hemiacetal When the hydroxyl and carbonyl groups are part of the same molecule a cyclic hemiacetal results as illustrated m Figure 25 3 Cyclic hemiacetal formation is most common when the ring that results is five or SIX membered Five membered cyclic hemiacetals of carbohydrates are called furanose forms SIX membered ones are called pyranose forms The nng carbon that is derived... 

Aldoses exist almost exclusively as their cyclic hemiacetals very little of the open chain form is present at equilibrium To understand their structures and chemical reac tions we need to be able to translate Fischer projections of carbohydrates into their cyclic hemiacetal forms Consider first cyclic hemiacetal formation m d erythrose To visualize furanose nng formation more clearly redraw the Fischer projection m a form more suited to cyclization being careful to maintain the stereochemistry at each chirality center... 

Generating Haworth formulas to show stereochemistry m furanose forms of higher aldoses is slightly more complicated and requires an additional operation Furanose forms of D ribose are frequently encountered building blocks m biologically important organic molecules They result from hemiacetal formation between the aldehyde group and the C 4 hydroxyl... 

Up to this point all our attention has been directed toward aldoses carbohydrates hav ing an aldehyde function in their open chain form Aldoses are more common than ketoses and their role m biological processes has been more thoroughly studied Nev ertheless a large number of ketoses are known and several of them are pivotal inter mediates m carbohydrate biosynthesis and metabolism Examples of some ketoses include d nbulose l xylulose and d fructose... 

Ketoses like aldoses exist mainly as cyclic hemiacetals In the case of d ribulose furanose forms result from addition of the C 5 hydroxyl to the carbonyl group... 

The anomeric carbon of a furanose or pyranose form of a ketose bears both a hydroxyl group and a carbon substituent In the case of 2 ketoses this substituent is a CH2OH group As with aldoses the anomeric carbon of a cyclic hemiacetal is readily identifi able because it is bonded to two oxygens... 

Aldoses are reducing sugars because they possess an aldehyde function m then-open chain form Ketoses are also reducing sugars Under the conditions of the test ketoses equilibrate with aldoses by way of enediol intermediates and the aldoses are oxidized by the reagent... 

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... 

The reaction of aldoses with nitric acid leads to the formation of aldaric acids by oxidation of both the aldehyde and the terminal primary alcohol function to carboxylic acid groups Aldaric acids are also known as saccharic acids and are named by substi tutmg aric acid for the ose ending of the corresponding carbohydrate... 

The presence of an aldehyde function m their open chain forms makes aldoses reactive toward nucleophilic addition of hydrogen cyanide Addition yields a mixture of diastereo meric cyanohydrins... 

The reaction is used for the chain extension of aldoses in the synthesis of new or unusual sugars In this case the starting material l arabinose is an abundant natural product and possesses the correct configurations at its three chirality centers for elaboration to the relatively rare l enantiomers of glucose and mannose After cyanohydrin formation the cyano groups are converted to aldehyde functions by hydrogenation m aqueous solution Under these conditions —C=N is reduced to —CH=NH and hydrolyzes rapidly to —CH=0 Use of a poisoned palladium on barium sulfate catalyst prevents further reduction to the alditols... 

There is another reaction available to the enediol intermediate Proton transfer from water to C 1 converts the enediol not to an aldose but to the ketose d fructose... 

Carbohydrates are polyhydroxy aldehydes and ketones Those derived from aldehydes are classified as aldoses, those derived from ketones are ketoses... 

Ketoses are characterized by the ending ulose m their name Most nat urally occurring ketoses have their carbonyl group located at C 2 Like aldoses ketoses cyclize to hemiacetals and exist as furanose or pyranose forms... 

The Kiliani-Fischer synthesis pro ceeds by nucleophilic addition of HCN to an aldose followed by con version of the cyano group to an al dehyde A mixture of stereoisomers results the two aldoses are epi meric at C 2 Section 25 20 de scribes the modern version of the Kiliani-Fischer synthesis The example at the right illus trates the classical version... 

Enolization of an aldose or a ketose gives an enediol Enediols can revert to aldoses or ketoses with loss of stereochemical integrity at the a carbon atom... 

Aldaric acid (Section 25 19) Carbohydrate in which car boxyhc acid functions are present at both ends of the chain Aldanc acids are typically prepared by oxidation of aldoses with nitnc acid... 

Aldonic acid (Section 25 19) Carboxylic acid obtained by oxi dation of the aldehyde function of an aldose Aldose (Section 25 1) Carbohydrate that contains an aldehyde carbonyl group in its open chain form Alicyclic (Section 2 15) Term describing an a/iphatic cyclic structural unit... 

Ketose (Section 25 1) A carbohydrate that contains a ketone carbonyl group in its open chain form Kiliam-Fischer synthesis (Section 25 20) A synthetic method for carbohydrate chain extension The new carbon-carbon bond IS formed by converting an aldose to its cyanohydnn Reduction of the cyano group to an aldehyde function com pletes the synthesis... 

Less activated substrates such as uorohaloben2enes also undergo nucleophilic displacement and thereby permit entry to other useful compounds. Bromine is preferentially displaced in -bromofluoroben2ene [460-00-4] by hydroxyl ion under the following conditions calcium hydroxide, water, cuprous oxide catalyst, 250°C, 3.46 MPa (500 psi), to give -fluorophenol [371-41-5] in 79% yield (162,163). This product is a key precursor to sorbinil, an en2yme inhibitor (aldose reductase). 

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). 

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