Transesterification sugars

Figure 14-3. Transesterification reaction of the dinucleotide model where the nucleophile-containing ribose sugar is modelled by a tetrahydrofurane structure, whereas the cleaving sugar is further simplified and modelled as a simple primary alcohol (ethanol)...

Starch and fatty acids are the main food constituents of biomass. Sugar is derived from starch by hydrolysis or directly by extraction from sugar cane or beet. Fermentation converts sugars into alcohol that can be directly used as fuel, or in principle can be used as the raw material of a bioreftnery plant for further upgrading. Triglycerides, derived from oil seeds, are used to be converted into biodiesel through transesterification processes (Fig. 1.14). 

Fatty acid esters of sugars are also very important biodegradable and biocompatible surfactants that are prepared either by transesterification of methyl ester with sugar on basic catalysts or by esterification of fatty acids with sugar on acidic catalysts. Liquid acids and bases have been replaced by enzymatic catalysis with lipase, giving a higher yield of monoester [43, 44], but solid catalysts have not been used extensively so far. 

A pentopyranoside-fused butenolide is the key intermediate for the synthesis of the natural micotoxin patulin [226, 227]. Its synthesis involves Wittig olefination of a 3,4-di-O-protected arabinopyran-2-uloside, followed by protecting group removal and dehydration (Scheme 47). In other research, the glucopyranosid-2-uloside 190 was converted into the butenolide derivative 191 by aldol condensation with diethyl malonate and transesterification [228]. The latter was shown to be prone to autoxi-dation, leading to 192. Subsequent Michael addition with hydroxide ion, followed by decarboxylation, furnishes C-branched-chain sugar 193. 

The synthesis of acrylates from sugars and other substrates has been applied in the early phases of enzymatic reactions and has already been reviewed [2, 14]. The method is attractive because the enzyme allows for mild and, in some examples, stereoselective acrylation. A recent example was published by Popescu et al. who took advantage of the frequent transesterification reactions and reported a route to highly functional linear copoly(meth)acrylates [15]. Methyl (meth)acrylate was mixed with various functional alcohols in the presence of Novozym 435. In situ... 

The tandem transesterification/[3 + 2]-cycloaddition methodology is be a powerful synthetic tool, since it guarantees high diastereoselectivity even under thermal conditions. It has been successfully apphed to synthetic work of the N-terminal amino acid component of Nikkomycin Bz (Scheme 11.53) (173). Thus, the sugar-based oxime is condensed with a glyoxylate hemiacetal to produce a chiral nitrone ester, which is then reacted with ( )-p-niethoxycinnamyl alcohol in the presence of a catalytic amount of TiCU at 100 °C. After the intramolecular cycloaddition, the... 

In summary, it may be stated that the reaction of acyl esters of aldoses and aldobioses (see Section III, p. 92) with ammonia consists of a set of competitive pathways, including intramolecular O —> N migrations of acyl groups, deacylations, and transesterifications, with formation of aldose amides and variable proportions of the free sugar as the principal products. Significant proportions of basic or insoluble polymeric substances were not observed with aldose acetates or benzoates, although occurrence of extensive browning indicates the probable formation of soluble melanoidins. 

On the other hand, formation of methyl benzoate was also found to occur in methanol, indicating that, together with a general base-catalysis to produce benzamide and with the intramolecular, orthoester mechanism (see p. 110) to give the nitrogenated sugars, a transesterification reaction takes place in which the alkoxide ions play an important role. This can be exemplified by the following sequence. 

The Hines64 showed that, as acids, ethanol, isopropyl alcohol, and tert-butyl alcohol are weaker than water, whereas methanol is stronger. The influence of the solvent could thus be interpreted in terms of equation 1. In methanol, the equilibrium would be more displaced to the right, and the rate of simple ammonolysis and transesterification would be enhanced, with concomitant decrease in the yields of amido sugars. In water (for the ammonolysis of sugar acetates) and in alcohols other than methanol, the equilibrium would be displaced to the left and this would allow operation of the orthoester mechanism a better chance. The isolation, from the reaction in isopropyl alcohol, of mono-O-benzoylated bis(benzamido)alditols, could also be explained on this basis. 

Transesterification, fatty acid analysis of lipids, 437, 439 Triacetin, lipase assays, 378 Triacylglycerol acylhydrolase, 371, 375, 378. See also Lipases Triacylglycerols, 432 Tributyrin, lipase assays, 378 Trichloroacetic acid (TCA) solubility index for protein hydrolysis, 152 in TBARS determination, 548-550 Trienes, conjugated, determination of, 515-517, 523-524, 526, 528 Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), for determination of neutral sugars, 721-722, 724-725, 729-730... 

Transesterification of sugars and derivatives with such active esters as the acetate, butanoate, decanoate, or dodecanoate of 2,2,2-trichlorethanol allowed selective acylation. In this first way, D-glucose, D-galactose, and D-mannose, in multigram quantities, gave the primary acylate in fair yield,110 in pyridine solution, in the presence of PPL (70,000 U). This type of reaction was also selective with di- and tri-saccharides thus, in... 

In continuation of their studies of the resolution of myo-inositol derivatives via their orthoesters with sugar derivatives, Evstigneeva et al. [296] converted the racemic 1,2 3,4-di-O-cyclohexylidene-wyo-inositol (431) by transesterification with the mannose orthoester (425) into a mixture of diastereoisomers (426) formed by esterification of the 5- and 6-positions of (431). One of the four possible isomers was separated by crystallisation and the other three were obtained by preparative TLC. Partial hydrolysis of the resolved isomers gave both enantiomers of 1,2-0-cyclohexylidene-myo-inositol (432). 

The selective enzyme-catalyzed acylation of carbohydrates is of great interest, as of carbohydrates fatty acid esters of carbohydrates have important applications in detergents, cosmetics, foodstuff, and pharmaceuticals because of their surface-active properties. Monoacylated sugars have been synthesized by lipase-catalyzed transesterifications of activated esters in pyridine and by protease-catalyzed esterifications in DMF. A most remarkable new development... 

Table 5.4 Effects of sugars on the enantiomeric ratio (E) and transesterification rate of lipase BC with 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-ol as substrate and toluene as the reaction medium.

Most of lipase-catalyzed acylations of sugars in organic solvents have been reported as transesterification rather than esterification reactions. The displacement of the equilibrium towards products has been accomplished by using activated acyl donors [58] such as 2,2,2-trichloroethyl esters and, more often, enol esters. The use of enol esters, such as a vinyl or an isopropenyl ester, was, in fact, first reported in lipase-catalyzed reactions with sugars [59]. In the reaction, an unstable enol is liberated which instantaneously tautomerizes to the corresponding aldehyde or ketone, making the reaction irreversible. 

The glycosidation of the reducing sugars obtained from hemicelluloses leads to the alkyl polypentosides surfactants. Glycosylation needs fatty alcohols as raw materials. Natural fatty alcohols derived, for example, from coconut or palm kernel oil are used in the alkyl polyglycoside synthesis to buUd up the hydrophobic part of the surfactants. These alcohols are used as blends obtained after transesterification and fractionation of oils leading to corresponding fatty acid methyl esters, and... 

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