Nitric acid carbohydrates

R. Alen, Oxidation of xyloisosaccharinic acid by nitric acid, Carbohydr. Res., 154 (1986) 301-304. 

Crystallizes from water in large colourless prisms containing 2H2O. It is poisonous, causing paralysis of the nervous system m.p. 101 C (hydrate), 189°C (anhydrous), sublimes 157°C. It occurs as the free acid in beet leaves, and as potassium hydrogen oxalate in wood sorrel and rhubarb. Commercially, oxalic acid is made from sodium methanoate. This is obtained from anhydrous NaOH with CO at 150-200°C and 7-10 atm. At lower pressure sodium oxalate formed from the sodium salt the acid is readily liberated by sulphuric acid. Oxalic acid is also obtained as a by-product in the manufacture of citric acid and by the oxidation of carbohydrates with nitric acid in presence of V2O5. 

Certain aliphatic compounds are oxidised by concentrated nitric acid, the carbon atoms being split off in pairs, with the formation of oxalic acid. This disruptive oxidation is shown by many carbohydrates, e.g., cane sugar, where the chains of secondary alcohol groups, -CH(OH)-CH(OH)-CH(OH)CH(OH)-, present in the molecule break down particularly readily to give oxalic acid. 

The reaction of aldoses with nitric acid leads to the formation of aldaric acids by oxidation of both the aldehyde and the terminal primary alcohol function to carboxylic acid groups Aldaric acids are also known as saccharic acids and are named by substi tutmg aric acid for the ose ending of the corresponding carbohydrate... 

Nitric acid oxidation is used where carbohydrates, ethylene glycol, and propylene are the starting materials. The diaLkyl oxalate process is the newest, where diaLkyl oxalate is synthesized from carbon monoxide and alcohol, then hydrolyzed to oxahc acid. This process has been developed by UBE Industries in Japan as a CO coupling technology in the course of exploring C-1 chemistry. 

Oxidation of Carbohydrates. Oxahc acid is prepared by the oxidation of carbohydrates (7—9), such as glucose, sucrose, starch, dextrin, molasses, etc, with nitric acid (qv). The choice of the carbohydrate raw material depends on availabihty, economics, and process operating characteristics. Among the various raw materials considered, com starch (or starch in general) and sugar are the most commonly available. Eor example, tapioka starch is the Brazihan raw material, and sugar is used in India. 

The oxidation of carbohydrates is the oldest method for oxahc acid manufacture. The reaction was discovered by Scheele in 1776, but was not successfully developed as a commercial process until the second quarter of the twentieth century. Technical advances in the manufacture of nitric acid, particularly in the recovery of nitrogen oxides in a form suitable for recycle, enabled its successful development. Thus 150 t of oxahc acid per month was produced from sugar by I. G. Earben (Germany) by the end of World War II. 

Ethylene Glycol Process. Oxahc acid is also prepared by the nitric acid oxidation of ethylene glycol (15—21), and the process is basically the same as in the case of carbohydrates except for the absence of the hydrolyzer (see Eig. 1). In this process, ethylene glycol is oxidized in a mixture of... 

Aldaric acid (Section 25.19) Carbohydrate in which carboxylic acid functions are present at both ends of the chain. Aldaric acids are typically prepared by oxidation of aldoses with nitric acid. 

Nitric acid is formed during these reactions and in some cases the addition of sodium fluoride as a base can be advantageous. This is the case with higher carbohydrates like cellulose and... 

The most important of the carbohydrate esters of nitric acid are the polysaccharide nitrates, particularly cellulose nitrate or nitrocellulose (NC) and starch nitrate ( nitrostarch ) which is much less used. Nitric esters prepared from other sugars such as saccharose and lactose are not of any importance as explosives. 

Like all carbohydrates, cellulose possesses the clearly marked prominent properties of an alcohol owing to the presence of hydroxyl (alcoholic) groups. The presence of those groups explains the ability of cellulose to form esters with nitric acid and with acetic acid which have attained great practical importance, and also with sulphuric, phosphoric and different organic adds, as well as the formation of cellulose ethers. 

A number of other delignilicatioii procedures have been devised in which the primary objective has been to obtain, for various purposes, a measure of the total-carbohydrate fraction. These procedures have employed as the active delignifyiiig agents such materials as nitric acid, monoethanola-miiie H. 178 other amines, neutral hypochlorite, acid hypochlorite, etc. These methods have recently been discussed by Browning and by Jahn. Although such procedures are of general interest, their application has not yielded much information that could be considered fundamental to an understanding of the chemistry of wood cellulose. Neither have these procedures become important in the commercial production of wood cellulose. 

Panzer obtained a gel-like carbohydrate substance from defatted bacilli (human strain) by successive extraction with water, hydrochloric acid, sodium carbonate, sodium nitrate, hot water and potassium hydroxide. The resulting liquors each yielded a gum-like substance which was sulfur-, nitrogen- and phosphorus-free. Oxidation of this derivative with nitric acid gave oxalic acid but no mucic acid. Panzer concluded that the substance was probably a pectin but not a galactan. It is now known that drastic oxidation of this nature would give oxalic acid from any sugar derivative. It is possible that by using controlled oxidation, mucic acid could be obtained from this carbohydrate. 

Esterification with mixed acids is often suitable for the preparation of carbohydrate nitrates, but sometimes a less vigorous method is required. For this purpose, a solution of anhydrous nitric acid in chloroform was introduced by Koenigs and Knorr and found suitable for preparing... 

Derivation Oxidation of lactose or similar carbohydrates with nitric acid. 

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