Efficient synthesis of l-altrose and l-mannose

One-Pot Domino Aldol Reaction of Indium Enolates Affording 6-Deoxy-α-D,L-altropyranose Derivatives: Synthesis, Mechanism, and Computational Results

The domino-aldol-aldol-hemiacetal-reaction cascade of indium and other group 13 metal enolates furnished 6-deoxy-α-D,L-altropyranose derivatives in up to 99% yield under thermodynamic control. At lower temperature and thus under kinetic control, the reaction proceeded in a much less diastereoselective manner. The changeover from kinetic to thermodynamic control operating in this multistep domino-aldol-aldol-hemiacetal protocol was used for probing the efficiency of DFT computations. Calculations at the B3LYP/6-31G(d)/LANL2DZ level provided a mechanistic picture in full agreement with the experimental outcome.

Enzymes for the biocatalytic production of rare sugars

Carbohydrates are much more than just a source of energy as they also mediate a variety of recognition processes that are central to human health. As such, saccharides can be applied in the food and pharmaceutical industries to stimulate our immune system (e.g., prebiotics), to control diabetes (e.g., low-calorie sweeteners), or as building blocks for anticancer and antiviral drugs (e.g., l-nucleosides). Unfortunately, only a small number of all possible monosaccharides are found in nature in sufficient amounts to allow their commercial exploitation. Consequently, so-called rare sugars have to be produced by (bio)chemical processes starting from cheap and widely available substrates. Three enzyme classes that can be used for rare sugar production are keto–aldol isomerases, epimerases, and oxidoreductases. In this review, the recent developments in rare sugar production with these biocatalysts are discussed.