Catalytic reductive cleavage of methyl α-d-glucoside acetals to ethers using hydrogen as a clean reductant

Abstract

The palladium-catalysed reductive cleavage of methyl glucoside acetals has been studied using hydrogen as a clean reducing agent. The reaction proceeds at 120 °C in cyclopentyl methyl ether (CPME) without acid co-catalyst. Under these conditions, the corresponding methyl glucoside monoethers were obtained with poor to good isolated yields (37–81%) and high selectivities (86–99%).