Saccharinic acids reactions

The reducing-end units (see Fig. 8) are highly labile in alkaline solutions. After an initial attack by hydroxide ions at the hemiacetal function, C-1, a series of enoHzations and rearrangements leads to deoxy acids, ie, saccharinic acids, and fragmentation. Substituents on one or more hydroxyl groups influence the direction, rate, and products of reaction. 

Aldoses generally undergo benzilic acid-type rearrangements to produce saccharinic acids, as well as reverse aldol (retro-aldol) reactions with j3-elimination, to afford a-dicarbonyl compounds. The products of these reactions are in considerable evidence at elevated temperatures. The conversions of ketoses and alduronic acids, however, are also of definite interest and will be emphasized as well. Furthermore, aldoses undergo anomerization and aldose-ketose isomerization (the Lobry de Bruyn-Alberda van Ekenstein transformation ) in aqueous base. However, both of these isomerizations are more appropriately studied at room temperature, and will be considered only in the context of other mechanisms. 

Saccharinic acid formation has been studied for several years. The four-step reaction proceeds rapidly in alkaline solution because of basic catalysis, particularly in the last two steps. Initially formed is an enediol that can undergo j8-elimination of a functional group, usually a hydroxyl group. The final two steps involve tautomerization to an a,j8-dicarbonyl intermediate followed by a benzilic acid rearrangement. This sequence is shown in Scheme 6 for the formation of the a- and j8 -xylometasac-charinic acids (30) by way of 3-deoxy-D-g/ycero-pentos-2-ulose (29). 

This stopping or stabilization reaction with cellulose was presumed to involve a saccharinic acid rearrangement of the reducing group on the terminal D-glucose residue. This mechanism was confirmed by the formation of D-glucometasaccharinic acid, which still remained attached as the terminal unit (73). The stopping reaction is presented in Scheme 13. 

This benzilic acid type of rearrangement is the result of the action of alkali on the dicarbonyl compound, and is accelerated by calcium ions. The formation of saccharinic acids by the action of aqueous alkali on sugars is very well known 82,84,92 however, if ammonia is present, very little8 or no production of saccharinic acid has been reported. The reaction of the intermediate carbonyl compounds with ammonia is faster than the benzilic acid type of rearrangement to give saccharinic acid, and, hence, substituted imidazoles are formed, as illustrated in Scheme 9. 

Komoto detected lactic acid in the mixture from reaction of D-glucose with ammonia,4 and presumed that it was produced from pyruvaldehyde formed by decomposition of D-glucose. Lactic acid has, indeed, been found as a product of the action of alkali (lime-water) on substituted D-glucose and substituted D-fructose,81,83,96 and the mechanism of its formation involves the reversible aldol reaction, followed by formation of pyruvaldehyde, and the benzilic acid rearrangement already described for saccharinic acid this is illustrated83,96 in Scheme 11. 

This mechanism is illustrated in Scheme 4. The reaction occurred in 0.2 M methanolic sodium hydroxide, and the isosaccharinic acid derivatives 78a and 78b obtained constitute the first saccharinic acid nucleosides reported. The configuration of the isomers at the branch-point was established by spectroscopic58 and chemical59 means. 

In alkaline solutions D-glucose forms 3-deoxy-D-en/f/iro-hexosulose and 4-deoxy-D-gft/cero-2,3-hexodiulose which yield saccharinic acids. Machell and Richards (57) have shown that 3-deoxy-D-en/fhro-hexosulose (14) is oxidized by 30% hydrogen peroxide to formic acid and 2-deoxy-D-erythro-pentonic acid (15). Recently Rowell and Green (58) found that 14 in the presence of oxygen also forms 15 in addition to the saccharinic acids. They inferred that the reactions with oxygen and hydrogen peroxide are very similar, but they did not present reaction mechanisms. 

Ishizu et al.29H found that D-xylose and D-fructose react with aqueous calcium hydroxide to produce 13 lactonizable saccharinic and other acids. These were identified after separation by cellulose column and gas-liquid chromatography, and the Cs-saccharinic acids, 2-C-methyl-D-threonic acid (117) and 2-C-methyl-D-erythronic acid (118), were among those isolated. These authors299 later reported that L-sorbose reacts similarly, to generate 14 lactones, including the 2-C-methyl-L-xr/o o-l,4-lactone and 2-C-methyl-L-lyxono-1,4-lactone, which were also prepared from 1-deoxy-L-threo-pentulose via the cyanohydrin reaction. 

Earlier investigators of the alkaline-degradation products of lactose found succinic acid, formic acid, and a crystalline lactone, later identified by Kiliani as a -D-isosaccharinic lactone. This lactone was obtained in about 20% yield from the action of lime-water on lactose also detected as products of this reaction were D-galactose, lactic acid, pyruvaldehyde, formaldehyde, and other saccharinic acids. The... 

Three structurally isomeric forms have been established for the six-carbon saccharinic acids. In the order of their discovery, these are the sac-charinic or 2-C -methylpentonic acids, the isosaccharinic or 3-deoxy-2-C -(hydroxymethyl)-pentonic acids, and the metasaccharinic or 3-deoxy-hexonic acids. Although none of these six-carbon, deoxyaldonic acids has been crystallized, six are known in the form of crystalline lactones (saccharins). All the possible metasaccharinic acids of less than six-carbon content have been obtained, in the form of crystalline derivatives, by the sugar-alkali reaction. Only one example of a branched-chain deoxyaldonic acid (the racemic, five-carbon isosaccharinic acid) of other than six-carbon content has been so obtained. The formation of saccharinic acids containing more than six carbon atoms remains to be explored. 

Shortly after the discovery of Peligot s a -D-glucosaccharin, Dubrun-faut reported that the calcium salt of a monobasic acid resulted from the action of lime-water on maltose. Cuisinier named the acid isosaccharinic acid, after he had prepared from it a crystalline lactone (CeHioOt) isomeric with Peligot s a -D-glucosaccharin. The name was expanded to a -D-iso-saccharinic acid after Nef obtained evidence of the concurrent formation of its epimer, /3 -D-isosaccharinic acid, in the hexose-alkali reaction. 

In support of his contention that /3 -D-isosaccharinic acid is present in the hexose-alkali reaction mixture, Nef also cited certain observations of Kiliani and Eisenlohr, who oxidized (with nitric acid) the residue obtained, after substantial removal of a -D-isosaccharinic acid and the meta-saccharinic acids, from the lactose-alkali reaction mixture. Among the products identified was the tribasic acid, (H02C)2C(0H)—CHj—CHOH— CO2H, previously obtained by a similar oxidation of a -D-isosaccharinic acid (see page 50). Nef concluded that the tribasic acid must in this instance have arisen from j3 -D-isosaccharinic acid. This conclusion ignores, however, the experimental demonstration by Kiliani and Eisenlohr that the residue subjected to oxidation had still contained a small proportion of a -D-isosaccharinic acid, isolable as the slightly soluble calcium salt. 

The best evidence for the formation of 8 -D-isosaccharinic acid in the sugar-alkali reaction is the recent observation" that treatment of lactose, maltose, or 4-0-methyl-D-glucose with lime-water at room temperature provides initially a mixture of saccharinic acids consisting almost exclusively of a -D-isosaccharinic acid plus an acid with the properties of Nef s /3 -D-isosaccharinic acid [brucine salt, m. p. 185 to 210 (dec.), [a]n - 20 to —22° lactone, [ajp -)-6 to - -8.5°]. An experimental proof that this substance possesses the isosaccharinic acid structure would provide the necessary evidence that it is, indeed, the epimer of a -D-isosaccharinic acid. 

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