Wohl Degradation

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The Wohl degradation in carbohydrate chemistry is a chain contraction method for aldoses. The classic example is the conversion of glucose to arabinose as shown below. The reaction is named after the chemist Alfred Wohl. In one modification, d-glucose is converted to the glucose oxime by reaction with hydroxylamine and sodium methoxide. In the second step the pentaacetyl glycononitrile is formed by reaction with acetic anhydride in acetic acid with sodium acetate. In this reaction step the oxime is converted into the nitrile with simultaneous conversion of all the alcohol groups to acetate groups. In the final step sodium methoxide in methanol is added on which the nitrile group is split off as sodium cyanide with formation of a new formyl group.

Pagina's: 68, Paperback, VDM Verlag