Lactic acid formation from hexoses

The role of substitution in determining the course of saccharinic acid formation has been critically examined recently by Kenner and coworkers. They conclude that an 0-glycosyl or 0-alkyl anion is more readily extruded from the sugar enediol anion of the Isbell mechanism than is a hydroxyl ion. In addition, substitution at certain positions in the sugar molecule may inhibit competing side-reactions. For example, a substituent at C4 of the hexose molecule inhibits cleavage (by reverse aldolization) into two three-carbon fragments and the resultant formation of lactic acid, a result that had been demonstrated earlier by the experiments of Evans and his associates. A combination of the two above effects, then, preferentially... 

As would be expected from the above considerations, substitution at C6 of a hexose has, at most, only a minor effect on the course of saccha-rinic acid formation. Thus, 6-0-(a-D-galactosyl)-D-glucose (melibiose) plus lime-water gives lactic acid and a mixture of the corresponding metasac-charinic, isosaccharinic, and saccharinic acids.The qualitative experiments with melibiose and with 6-0-methyl-D-glucose, based mainly on paper chromatography, suggest that the metasaccharinic acids may be the principal products from hexoses substituted at C6. 

Heterofermentative bacteria produce acetic acid from hexoses, but regulation mechanisms modify production. In anaerobic conditions, the NADH oxidase cannot regenerate NAD. Glucose preferentially leads to the formation of lactic acid and ethanol. When NADH can be reoxidized by another process, the amount of ethanol formed... 

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