Historical Overview of Carbohydrate Research

Sugars, such as fructose and glucose from honey, have been harvested and processed by humans since the Stone Age [23], The use of sucrose as a sweetener dates back to the eighth century BC and could only be afforded by royalty and the very wealthy [24], More recently, these natural products become critical in a variety of industries focused on the production of paper, pulp, textiles, and pharmaceuticals. As often is the case, industrial applications ultimately provided the economic impetus for investigations into carbohydrate synthesis, purification, and characterization in the late nineteenth century. 

Finally, oxidation experiments on D-gluconic and D-gulonic acid produced the head-to-tail enantiomers D/L-glucaric acid. Thus, it was apparent that these acids could only be derived from D-glucose and D-gulose. In a seminal report published in 1891, Fischer 

SCHEME 1.2 Convergence of glucose and mannose to the same osazone. 

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