Uronic acids, sugar oxidation

Uronic acid Class of aeidie eompounds of the general formula HOOC(CHOH) CHO that eontain both earboxylie and aldehydie groups, are oxidation produets of sugars, and oeeur in many polysaeeharides espeeially in the hemieelluloses. 

There are three possible classes of sugar acids which may be produced by the oxidation of monosaccharides (Figure 9.11). The aldonic acids are produced from aldoses when the aldehyde group at carbon 1 is oxidised to a carboxylic acid. If, however, the aldehyde group remains intact and only a primary alcohol group (usually at carbon 6 in the case of hexoses) is oxidised then a uronic acid is formed. Both aldonic and uronic acids occur in nature as intermediates in... 

Uronic acids are found in nature, but they are formed enzymically by selective oxidation of the primary alcohol function of a sugar. Oxidation takes place not on the free sugar, but on UDPsugar... 

Electron donating a-substituents favour the non-Kolbe reaction but the radical intermediates in these anodic processes can be trapped during co-electrolysis with an alkanoic acid. Anodic decarboxylation of sugar uronic acids leads to formation of the radical which is very rapidly oxidised to a carbonium ion, stabilised by the adjacent ether group. However, in the presence of a tenfold excess of an alkanoic acid, the radical intermediate is trapped as the unsymmetrical coupling product [101]. Highly functionalised nucleotide derivatives such as 20 will couple successfully in the mixed Kolbe reaction [102], Other examples include the co-electrolysis of 3-oxa-alkanoic acids with an alkanoic acid [103] and the formation of 3-alkylindoles from indole-3-propanoic acid [104], Anodic oxidation of indole-3-propanoic acid alone gives no Kolbe dimer [105],... 

URONIC ACID. Any of a class of compounds similar to sugars but differing from diem in that the terminal carbon has bee oxidized from an alcohol to carboxyl group. The most common are galacturomc acid and... 

Three kinds of sugar acids can be formally obtained from the corresponding aldoses. They are aldonic acids, produced by oxidation at C-l of the aldose uronic acids, formed by oxidation of the primary alcohol group of the aldose and aldaric acids, formed by oxidation of both the aldehyde and the primary alcohol group. 

Uronic acids are sugars in which the hydroxymethyl group of an aldose has been oxidized to a carboxylic acid. These occur as the salts, known as uronates, at physiological pH. 

As depicted in Scheme 21.1 for the oxidation of glucose, three general types of acids can be produced by the oxidation of a sugar aldonic acids in which only the aldehyde of the parent aldose has been oxidized to the acid aldaric acids that are dicarboxylic acids with one carboxy group coming from the oxidation of the aldehyde and the other from the primary alcohol at the other end of the carbon chain or uronic acids derived from the selective oxidation of the primary alcohol without the oxidation of the aldehyde. 

Uronic acids. Any of a group of aldehyde acids that are oxidation products of sugars. The terminal carbon in a uronic acid is a carboxyl carbon rather than an alcoholic carbon as in sugar. Uronic acids occur combined in many polysaccharides. 

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