Sugar hemiacetals/ketals

In sucrose, fructose is present as the P anomer. Now, one of these sugars has acted as an alcohol to make a bond to the other sugar. We can look at this in two ways. Either frnctose acts as an alcohol to react with the hemiacetal glucose to form an acetal, or alternatively, glucose is the alcohol that reacts with the hemiketal fructose to form a ketal. In sucrose, the pyranose ring is an acetal, whilst the fnranose ring is a ketal. This all seems rather... 

The cyclic hemiacetal and hemiketal forms of monosaccharides are capable of reacting with an alcohol to form acetals and ketals (see Section 7.2). The acetal or ketal product is termed a glycoside, and the non-carbohydrate portion is referred to as an aglycone. In the nomenclature of glycosides we replace the suffix -ose in the sugar with -oside. Simple glycosides may be synthesized by treating an alcoholic solution of the monosaccharide with an acidic catalyst, but the reaction mixture usually then contains a mixture of products. This is an accepted problem with many carbohydrate reactions it is often difficult to carry out selective transformations because of their multifunctional nature. 

Carbohydrates such as aldoses that undergo oxidation with metal ions are referred to as reducing sugars. Both copper(II) ions and silver ions are capable of oxidizing aldoses. Oxidation by copper(II) ions is the basis for Fehling s test and Benedict s test, whereas oxidation by silver ions is the key to Tollen s test. (Note These tests work for any sugar with a hemiacetal, but they don t work on acetals or ketals.)... 

In general, reducing sugars are hemiacetals or hemiketals and the nonreducing sugars are acetals or ketals. The difference is between the presence of the structural elements... 

We saw in the previous chapter that aldehydes react with alcohols to form hemi-acetals, and hemiacetals react with another alcohol to afford acetals. Well, the intramolecular reaction of the aldehyde carbon of an aldose monosaccharide with one of the hydroxyl groups in the same molecule affords a cyclic hemiac-etal. An mferaiolecular reaction of this hemiacetal with the hydroxyl group of another sugar molecule provides an acetal functional group. This kind of acetal linkage connects monosaccharides into polysaccharides. Biochemists refer to these acetal (and ketal) bonds as glycoside bonds. 

When the hemiacetal or hemiketal of one monosaccharide reacts with a hydroxyl group of another monosaccharide, the product is an acetal or a ketal. A sugar molecule made up of two monosaccharides is called a disaccharide. The C—O—-C bond between the two monosaccharides is called a glycosidic bond (Figure 14.7). 

An aldehyde or ketone can react with an alcohol in a 1 1 ratio to yield a hemiacetal or hemiketal, respectively, creating a new chiral center at the carbonyl carbon. Substitution of a second alcohol molecule produces an acetal or ketal. When the second alcohol is part of another sugar molecule, the bond produced is a glycosidic bond (p. 245). 

The cyclic hemiacetal (or hemiketal) can react with an alcohol to form an acetal (or ketal), called a glycoside. If the name pyranose or furanose is used, the acetal is called a pyranoside or a furanoside. The bond between the anomeric carbon and the alkoxy oxygen is called a glycosidic bond. The preference for the axial position by certain substituents bonded to the anomeric carbon is called the anomeric effect. If a sugar has an aldehyde, ketone, hemiacetal, or hemiketal group, it is a reducing sugar. 

Aldehydes and ketones are prepared by the oxidation of primary and secondary alcohols, respectively. Aldehydes can be further oxidized to carboxylic acids, but ketones resist oxidation. Thus, aldehydes are oxidized by Tollens reagent (Ag" ) and Benedict s solution (Cu ), whereas ketones are not. A characteristic reaction of both aldehydes and ketones is the addition of hydrogen to the carbonyl double bond to form alcohols. In a reaction that is very important in sugar chemistry, an alcohol can add across the carbonyl group of an aldehyde to produce a hemiacetal. The substitution reaction of a second alcohol molecule with the hemiacetal produces an acetal. Ketones can undergo similar reactions to form hemiketals and ketals. 

Although carbohydrate cyclic hemiacetals and hemiketals are in equilibrium with open-chain forms of the monosaccharides, the glycosides (acetals and ketals) are much more stable and do not exhibit open-chain forms. Therefore, glycosides of monosaccharides are not reducing sugars. 

Monosaccharides are sweet-tasting solids that are very soluble in water. Noncarbohydrate low-calorie sweeteners such as aspartame have been developed as sugar substitutes. Pentoses and hexoses form cyclic hemiacetals or hemiketals whose structures can be represented by Haworth structures. Two isomers referred to as anomers (the a and p forms) are produced in the cyclization reaction. All monosaccharides are oxidized by Benedict s reagent and are called reducing sugars. Monosaccharides can react with alcohols to produce acetals or ketals that are called glycosides. 

---