Aldoses dehydration

Conversion of the aldehyde into a nitrile is accomplished by treatment of an aldose with hydroxvlamine to give an oxime (Section 19.8), followed by dehydration of the oxJme with acetic anhydride. The Wohl degradation does not give particularly high yields of chain-shortened aldoses, but the reaction is general for all aldopentoses and aldohexoses. For example, D-galactose is converted by Wohl degradation into n-lyxose. 

A new synthetic route for functionalized polyhydroxyalkyl-pyrimidines starting from unprotected aldoses and based on montmorillonite K-10 catalysis and solvent-free microwave irradiation conditions, has been reported by Yadav et al,m Thus, reaction of D-glucose and D-xylose with semicarbazide or thiosemicarbazide (186) in the presence of montmorillonite K-10, under microwave irradiation, proceeded via domino cycloisomerization, dehydrazination, and dehydration of the intermediate semi- or thiosemicarbazones (187) to afford l,3-oxazin-2-ones or l,3-oxazine-2-thiones (188) in one single step and in yields between 79% and 85% (Scheme 34). Other mineral catalysts tested, such as silica gel and basic alumina, were far less effective for this transformation and only silica gel was active at all, giving low yields (15-28%) of compounds 188a-d. The l,3-oxazin-2-ones(thiones) thus synthesized were subsequently converted into the target pyrimidines by reaction with aromatic... 

D-xylose was converted into 2-furaldehyde in acidified, tritiated water, no carbon-bound isotope was detected. This suggested that the 1,2-enediol (2) reacted immediately, as otherwise, tritium would have been detected at the aldehydic carbon atom of 2-furaldehyde, as a result of aldose-ketose interconversion.An acidic dehydration performed with d-[2- H]xylose showed that an intramolecular C-2-C-1 hydrogen transfer had actually occurred. Thus, these data indicated that an intramolecular hydride shift is more probable than the previously accepted step involving a 1,2-enediol intermediate. 

The formation of acyclic enediols is, apparently, the initial reaction that leads to dehydration products. Sugar enediols are transitory compounds that have never been isolated. However, because, when treated with either acid or base, an aldose gives rise to its 2-epimer, as well as to its 2-keto isomer, a persuasive argument is provided for the 1,2-enediol as the intermediate common to each of the products. The evidence in favor of these intermediates is based primarily on isotope-exchange experiments, on reactions that involve isomeriza-tions of O-methyl sugars, and on kinetic measurements.10... 

Problem 22.10 Outline the steps in the Wohl degradation, which employs a dehydration of an aldose oxime and is thus a reversal of the Kiliani-Fischer step-up method. 

H. Kiliani, as Fischer always emphatically acknowledged, discovered and developed the method of building up the aldose series by the cyanohydrin reaction to give nitriles from the nitrile, the next higher aldonic acid could then be prepared. In 1890, A. Wohl, working in Fischer s Berlin laboratory, elaborated the dehydration of an aldose oxime to the nitrile, from which the next lower aldose could be prepared by loss of hydrocyanic acid. Fischer exploited the possibilities of sugar extension and degradation afforded by the use of these two important methods. 

With acid degradation, the first step appears to involve the formation of 1,2-enols from the aldose or ketose (7), followed by a series of dehydration reactions resulting in the formation of 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfuraldehyde. If the initial sugar is a pentose, the final product is 2-furfuraldehyde. 

The resulting furfurals then can undergo a series of complicated polymerization reactions. Hodge (8) reported that these reactions include hydrolytic fission, fission of 2-ketoses, dehydration of triose, dismutation of biose, trioses, and tetroses, self- and cross-condensations of aldehydes and ketones, reversion of aldoses and ketoses to various oligosaccharides, dimerization of monosaccharides, cyclodehydration of aldoses followed by polymerization, and finally, the enolization and dehydration of formed oligosaccharides. 

Acid-catalyzed dehydration of aldoses and ketoses yields furan derivatives in 40-80% yield. Recently the reaction has been carried out in an organic solvent, e.g., dioxan or triethylene glycol,5 or with I2 in dimethylformamide at 100°. Often D-fructose is employed as starting material. This ketose gives glucose via an enediol, which yields 5-hydroxymethylfurfural or its O-acyl derivative by dehydration.7-10... 

The decarbonylation reaction is not confined to aldehydes, but also embraces those compounds that have aldehyde tautomers. Thus, both carbohydrates and allylic alcohols can be decarbonylated. When glucose is allowed to react with frani -[RhCl(CO)(PPh3)2] in A -methylpyrrolidin-2-one, decarbonylation occurs and arabinitol is formed with retention of configuration. The decarbonylation of fructose to arabinitol is complicated by the simultaneous dehydration to furfinyl alcohol, which is the major product. Analogous reactions occur with lower carbohydrates in the limit, glycolaldehyde is decarbonylated to methanol. Aldose derivatives can also be converted to their C i analogues, but the yields are only about half of those obtained with the parent aldoses. Disaccharides usually give better yields. 

The following scheme, in which A is a Bronsted base and HA is its conjugate acid, is in harmony with these facts for nonenzymic epimeriza-tion (shown only at C2), aldose-ketose isomerization, and the dehydration to a 3-deoxyosone. Here, aldose-ketose isomerization is shown as progressing through the hybrid anion (XXVIII), through the enediol, and, finally, through the hybrid anion (XXIX) The hybrid anion (XXVIII) is also... 

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