Sucrose methylation method

Although dilute aqueous acid hydrolyzed the methyl and benzyl a-D-fructofuranosides approximately 8 and 16 times as rapidly as sucrose, their method of preparation showed them to be unaffected by any of the enzymes active in a fermenting yeast suspension. Purified yeast invertase, proven free of a-D-glucosidases (maltases), could therefore contain no enzyme capable of hydrolyzing the above two a-D-fructo-furanosides, but did contain constituents that readily cleaved the beta isomers and also sucrose. The latter is accordingly a /S-D-fructofuranos-ide. When the evidence is put in this way, the present uncertainties as to whether purified invertase preparations include one or a number of /3-D-fructofuranosidases, and whether or not sucrose, methyl and... 

Acetates. Because of the significant interest in selective acetylation reactions of sucrose, the need for a convenient and unambiguous method of identification has been recognized (34,35). The position of an acetyl group in a partially acetylated sucrose derivative can be ascertained by comparison of its H-nmr acetyl methyl proton resonances after per-deuterioacetylation with those of the assigned octaacetate spectmm. The synthesis of partially acetylated sucroses has generally been achieved either by way of selectively protected derivatives such as trityl ethers and cychc acetals or by direct selective acetylation and deacetylation reactions. 

The value of methylation studies in structural determination of carbohydrates is well known. Methylation of sucrose has generally been achieved by the use of dimethyl sulfate-sodium hydroxide,34,35 methyl iodide-silver oxide-acetone,20 sodium hydride-methyl io-dide-N,N-dimethylformamide,35 or diazomethane-boron trifluoride etherate.36,37 The last method (already applied to monosaccharides38,39) has been found particularly useful for sucrose, because it proceeds without concomitant migration of acyl groups. The reaction of 2,3,6,T,3, 4, 6 -hepta-0-acetylsucrose (21) and 2,3,4,6,1, 3, 4 -hepta-O-acetylsucrose (22) with diazomethane in dichloromethane in the presence of a catalytic proportion of boron trifluoride etherate for 0.5 h at —5° gave the corresponding 4-methyl (23) and 6 -methyl (24)... 

The transesterification of sucrose has been performed with a fatty acid ester of a volatile alcohol in the presence of an alkaline catalyst in a dipolar, aprotic solvent.142 The reaction of sucrose (293 mmoles) with methyl dodecanoate (293 mmoles) in A/,N-dimethylformamide in the presence of sodium methoxide in a pressure bomb for 8 h at 130° gave, after solvent extraction and crystallization, sucrose mono(dodecanoate) (m.p. 72-80° [a]D+52°) in 50% yield.142 Commercialization of these sucrose esters has so far been limited, in part because of the use of expensive solvents, and, in part, because solvent remaining in the product makes it unsuitable for use as a food emulsifier. In view of this situation, methods have been developed in which the use of toxic and expensive solvents has been avoided. 

This extension of the Smith analysis, involving methylation of the polyalcohol, has been studied in detail by Bose, both on model systems and on the Ti fructan.84 When a ffuctan is used, this method may give l-hydroxy-3-methoxy-2-propanone and l,3-dimethoxy-2-propa-none, together with methylated glycerols. These compounds may react further under methanolysis conditions to yield 2,5-dimethoxy-2,5-bis(methoxymethyl)-l,4-dioxane and l,3-dimethoxy-2-propanone dimethyl acetal, respectively. Several of these compounds may be obtained from sucrose by a model reaction. In view of the wide variety of hydroxy compounds obtained in this study,84 their separation and identification as benzeneboronates was investigated, and certain of the latter derivatives were purified by gas-liquid chromatography. The characterization of 1,2- and 1,3-diols by the mass spectra of their cyclic benzeneboronates has also been described.634... 

Phase equilibria in water have been described by Kelly, who studied the effect of hexoses, sucrose, and inorganic salts on each other. The conclusion was reached that, for sucrose, the solubility of the second solute influences the composition at the invariant point, but for D-fructose, this effect is zero because of the high solubility of this sugar in water. Viscosity and density have also been evaluated at different temperatmes in methyl sulfoxide, and were fitted to appropriate equations by use of least-squares methods. The apparent molal volume calculated in this way is in perfect agreement with the theoretical data, whereas the differences for D-glucose and sucrose are 8 and 4%, respectively. 

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