Carbohydrate acetates, hydrolysis

Cellobiose was prepared first by Skraup and Konig by the saponification of the octaacetate with alcoholic potassium hydroxide, and the method was improved by Pringsheim and Merkatz.3 Aqueous barium hydroxide also has been employed for the purpose, and methyl alcoholic ammonia has been used extensively for the hydrolysis of carbohydrate acetates. The method of catalytic hydrolysis with a small quantity of sodium methylate was introduced by Zemplen,i who considered the action to be due to the addition of the reagent to the ester-carbonyl groups of the sugar acetate and the decomposition of the addition compound by reaction with alcohol. The present procedure, reported by Zemplen, Gerecs, and Hadacsy, is a considerable improvement over the original method (see Note 2). 

Called glycosides, carbohydrate acetals are named by first citing the alkyl group and replacing the ose ending of the sugar with -oside. Like all acetals, glycosides are stable to neutral water. They aren t in equilibrium with an open-chain form, and they don t show mutarotation. They can, however, be converted back to the free monosaccharide by hydrolysis with aqueous acid. 

Alkaline hydrolysis of carbohydrate acetates presents no difficulty if the reducing group of the carbohydrate is protected by an alkali-resistant substituent. Thus glycosides and isopropylidene derivatives of carbohydrates can be deacetylated by alcoholic alkali, barium hydroxide solution, or liquid68 or alcoholic69 ammonia. 

Other potential synthetic methods include fermentation (qv) of certain carbohydrates (qv), oxidation of propane, hydrogenation of acetone, and hydrolysis of isopropyl acetate. The hydrogenation of by-product acetone is the only method practiced commercially. 

Orthoesters. The value of cycHc orthoesters as intermediates for selective acylation of carbohydrates has been demonstrated (73). Treatment of sucrose with trimethylorthoacetate and DMF in the presence of toluene-/)-sulfonic acid followed by acid hydrolysis gave the 6-0-acetylsucrose as the major and the 4-0-acetylsucrose [63648-80-6] as the minor component. The latter compound underwent acetyl migration from C-4 to C-6 when treated with an organic base, such as / fZ-butylamine, in DMF to give sucrose 6-acetate in >90% yield (74). When the kinetic reagent 2,2-dimethoxyethene was used,... 

The removal of the carbohydrate auxiliary group and the hydrolysis of the amino nitriles is achieved by acidolytic cleavage of the hemiaminal /V-glycosidic bond and the concomitant acid-catalyzed solvolysis of the nitrile using either hydrogen chloride in formic acid or hydrogen bromide in acetic acid56 57. 

The pH of the periodate reaction medium is of paramount importance in such oxidation of carbohydrates, principally because of the sensitive acetal and ester linkages already present or formed in the course of the reaction. In many cases, any hydrolysis of these linkages will free more than the original theoretical number of reactive groups. The pH essential for preserving the blocking groups intact must be compromised with the optimal pH for the periodate oxidation. 

Depolymerization of the permethylated carbohydrate is achieved by hydrolysis with acid. Under these conditions, the amino sugar residues are N-deacetylated, and the aminohexosidic linkages become resistant to hydrolysis. Stellner and coworkers29 showed that, when the acid degradation is conducted in 95% acetic acid, the amino sugar residues are also liberated, and can be analyzed by the methylation technique.29 Therefore, acetolysis followed by acid hydrolysis is now commonly used, as it allows the analysis both of hexose and hexosamine residues. 

Monomeric carbohydrates in their cyclic form (furanoses and pyranoses) are hemiacetals, which, to become acetals, form 0-glycosyl conjugates. The C-atom C(l) that bears two O-atoms is the reactive, electrophilic center targeted by glycosidases. Nonenzymatic hydrolysis is also possible, although, as a rule, under physiological conditions of pH and temperature, the reaction is of limited significance. 

Carbohydrates are either polyhydroxy aldehydes and ketones or substances that form these compounds after hydrolysis. The general formula is [C (H20) ]. Normally carbohydrates occur as hemiacetals or acetals (hemiketals or ketals). 

Of all the selective, deprotection procedures that are available to carbohydrate chemists, the partial hydrolysis of polyacetals is probably the most familiar. Articles by de Beider4,5 and Brady6 contained examples of this type of reaction for aldose and ketose derivatives, respectively, and an article by Barker and Bourne7 gave useful information from the early literature on the graded, acid hydrolysis of acetal derivatives of polyols. A discussion of the stereochemistry of cyclic acetals of carbohydrates was included in an article by Mills 70 and in one by Ferrier and Overend,76 and a survey of the formation and migration of carbohydrate cyclic acetals was made by Clode.7c... 

It is intended that the present Chapter shall be complementary to Haines s article in this Volume8 that deals with the selective deprotection of protected sugars. The reader interested in all aspects of the hydrolysis, the alcoholysis, the acetolysis, and the isomerization of cyclic acetals pf sugars should refer to Haines s article. A review has also been published concerning the formation and migration of cyclic acetals of carbohydrates.80... 

Acetates and benzoates are widely used as characteristic derivatives of carbohydrates, and for the assay and protection of hydroxyl groups. Various maltose heptaacetates having a free hydroxyl group on C-l, C-2, C-3, C-6, or C-6 have been synthesized. 2,3,6,2, 3, 4, 6 -Hepta-0-acetyl-/3-maltose (17) has been prepared by hydrolysis of the corresponding glycosyl halide.57,58 The reaction conditions may not always result in the isolation of the anomerically unsubstituted acetate, as was shown by Corbett and coworkers,59 who obtained three... 

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