Monosaccharide Reduction

Carbohydrates - back

Reduction of aldoses/ketoses to produce polyalcohol derivatives

Attacks aldoses/ketoses, Creates epimers

Monosaccharide Reduction

• Aldose -(Y)-> Alditol
• Ketose -(Y)-> Mixture of C2 Epimer Alditols
  • Y-NaB4
  • Y-H2, Ni

Mechanism:

Monosaccharide Reduction Fundamentals:

• Nomenclature - alditos are named by adding the suffix '-itol' to the root name of the sugar

Salient Examples:

• Sorbitol - precursor for vitamin C

Concepts:

• Reduction

Terminology:

• Alditols: reduced polyalcohols of aldoses/ketoses
• Epimers: sugars that differ only by the stereochemistry at the single carbon

Additional Information: