Epimerization of aldonic acids

Closely related to this reaction is the base-catalyzed epimerization of aldonic acids and their lactones (see Lundt and Madsen, this voL). This reaction is, of course, even older than the LdB-AvE process, and was first used by Emil Fischer [29]. Potassium hydroxide and tertiary amines (pyridine, quinoline) have been used as bases. The reaction is much slower than the epimerization of sugars and requires prolonged heating, but the aldonic acids are much more stable to the action of bases than the sugars, and no side reactions occur. The reaction proceeds even if the hydroxyl group at C-2 is methylated [30]. The kinetics and the mechanism of the interconversion of the aldopentonic acids in potassium hydroxyde solution have been studied this reaction also occurs via the enediol and the removal of H-2 is the rate-determining step [31]. It is of industrial importance, as indicated by numerous patents [32]. 

These compounds are very stable, but as derivatives of aldonic acids they undergo epimerization with hot sodium hydroxide. They are oxidized by hypobromite to salts of the labile 2-phenyl-1,3,4-thia-diazole-5-carboxylic acid (15). The corresponding products from fucose and hexuronic acids were described in later papers. 

Fischer s involvement with the relative configurations of the sugars required the preparation of pure substances and he gradually accumulated experimental data (20-22), which required the formation of epimeric aldonic acids in unequal amounts (see Table I). Thus, he was able to write (23) in 1892 ... 

Kinetics of oxidation of four pentoses by bromamide-T were conducted in alkaline medium at different temperatures and the overall activation parameters have been calculated.52 Aldonic acids were the oxidation products, and a mechanism was suggested in which formation of the enediol anion of the sugar is the rate-limiting step. As aldoses may undergo epimerization in alkaline solutions, the oxidation of monosaccharides with bromamide-T was also performed in hydrochloric acid solution.53 Kinetic parameters revealed a low reactivity of ketoses relative to aldoses, and indicated that the cyclic forms of the latter are involved in the oxidations. 

Ribose may be identified through the benzimidazole from ribonic acid, 2-(D-n6o-tetrahydroxybutyl)benzimidazole52 53 54 and its picrate and hydrochloride. However, caution must be used at two points in this procedure. In the first place, the customary oxidation of ribose with alkaline hypoiodite produces both ribonic and arabonic acids, the latter being formed by the alkali-induced epimerization of the former. While this epimerization may be avoided by using a buffered oxidizing mixture such as bromine-barium benzoate,65 there is, in the second place, further risk of epimerization during the condensation of the aldonic acid with o-phenylenediamine, particularly if there is insufficient acid present.9 10-11... 

A word of caution at this point seems most desirable. In every case where a pure aldonic acid or its derivative has been heated with o-phenyl-enediamine and an excess of hydrochloric acid, only a single benzimidazole has been isolated. It is well known that aldonic acids are epimerized by heating them at temperatures above 100° with organic bases such as pyridine. The heating of an aldonic acid with o-phenylenediamine at 135-150° may also result in appreciable epimerization. Thus, Moore and Link20 reported that from the fusion of xylonic acid with o-phenylenediamine at 150°, in the absence of mineral acids, they could isolate the epimeric lyxo-benzimidazole. Barker, Farrar, and Gulland,21 in a more detailed study, proved conclusively that both D-ribo- and D-arabo-benzimidazoles were formed when the condensation of calcium D-ribonate with o-phenylenediamine was carried out in the presence of less than two molecular equivalents of hydrochloric acid, whereas with an excess of hydrochloric acid only the D-ribo-benzimidazole was obtained. It is important, therefore, in the condensation of o-phenylenediamine with an optically active acid at an elevated temperature that the reaction mixture always be kept on the acid side. 

D-ribonate. In critical cases, such as the study of a mixture in which the presence of small quantities of D-arabinose is being considered, oxidation with bromine and a barium benzoate buffer according to Hudson and Isbell27 may be substituted, even though the procedure becomes more complicated if one wishes to fractionate the aldonic acids through their potassium and barium salts. While other examples of epimerization under these alkaline conditions have not been reported, the possibility of such rearrangements must always be kept in mind. 

Here the synthesis led to an o-galaheptose (amorphous) and from it a galaoctose (crystalline) was prepared. Many years later the a-gala-heptose was crystallized. The 8-galaheptose crystallized in Fischer s research, and the epimeric character of the two galaheptoses was made highly probable by his interconversion of their aldonic acids on heating with aqueous pyridine. 

In the presence of a tertiary amine, in particular pyridine (Sec. 31.6), an equilibrium is established between an aldonic acid and its epimer. This reaction is the basis of the best method for converting an aldose into its epimer, since the only configuration affected is that at C-2. The aldose is oxidized by bromine water to the aldonic acid, which is then treated with pyridine. From the equilibrium mixture thus formed, the epimeric aldonic acid is separated, and reduced (in the form of its lactone) to the epimeric aldose. See, for example, Fig. 34.4. 

Aldol condensation of 2,2-diethyl-l,3-dioxolan-4-one lithium or zirconium enolates with aldehydo sugars has afforded higher carbon aldonic acid derivatives, e.g. 1. The synthesis of L-ribono-1,4-lactone has been achieved from d-isoascorbic acid by way of the tetrose and pentitol derivatives 2 and 3 and the d-ribonolactone derivative 4 has been efficiently epimerized to the L-lyxonolactone 5 (Scheme 1). A selective i yn-epoxidation of racemic 2-0-benzyl-4-alkenamides followed by hydrolysis has afforded 3-deoxy-pentono-1,4-lactones. 

In 1885, Heinrich Kiliani (Freiburg, Germany) discovered that an aldose can be converted to the epimeric aldonic adds having one additional carbon through the addition of hydrogen cyanide and subsequent hydrolysis of the epimeric cyanohydrins. Fischer later extended this method by showing that aldonolactones obtained from the aldonic acids can be reduced to aldoses. Today, this method for lengthening the carbon chain of an aldose is called the Kiliani-Fischer synthesis. 

Although monosaccharides undergo complex isomerizations in base (see Section 22.5A), aldonic acids are epimerized specifically at C2 when they are heated with pyridine. Show how you could make use of this reaction in a synthesis of D-mannose from D-glucose. 

The direct action of alkali or pyridine on the sugars is of particular value for the preparation of the ketoses, but the action of pyridine on the aldonic acids is solely an epimerization. The action of hot tertiary amines (particularly aqueous pyridine and quinoline), as well as of alkali, on the aldonic acids and their methylated derivatives results in the establishment of an equilibrium between the two epimeric acids 219). 

Change of Configuration Without Change in Number of Carbon Atoms. Epimerization of carbon 2 of an aldonic acid can be carried out in the presence of alkaline agents. This reaction is discussed later. 

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