3.4- Di-O-methyl-D-mannitol

Analysis of Freshly Cyclized 2,3-di-O-methyl-D-arabinose. The system 3,4-di-O-methyl-D-mannitol (2)—sodium metaperiodate meets the foregoing specifications. 3,4-Di-O-methylmannitol was rapidly cleaved by periodate to 2,3-di-O-methyl-D-arabinose (3), which is resistant to further oxidation (19). We prepared the crystalline / -anomer of this sugar (the a-anomer had previously been crystallized (20)) and showed that on a suitable GLC column the trimethylsilyl derivatives of the four ring forms could be separated (Figure 9). The individual peaks were characterized by preparative GLC and mass spectrometry. This allowed the analysis of the mixtures of anomeric forms generated in kinetic experiments (see p. 34). 

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