Revisiting Amadori and Heyns synthesis: Critical percentage of acyclic form play the trick in addition to catalyst

Abstract

Amadori and Heyns reaction are landmark reactions of carbohydrate chemistry. Synthesis of simple Amadori and Heyns compounds are complicated by various factors and require tedious column chromatographic or ion chromatographic separations. Herein, we report an improved catalytic method based on classical synthetic method of Amadori and Heyns compounds in light of new understanding of a factor governing the reaction. By utilizing the improved catalytic method, we have accomplished several Amadori compounds of d-tagatose and also numerous other Amadori and Heyns compounds.