Desulfonyloxylations of some secondary p-toluenesulfonates of glycosides by lithium triethylborohydride; a high-yielding route to 2- and 3-deoxy sugars

Lithium triethylborohydride (LTBH) reacts readily with p-toluenesulfonates of methyl 4,6-O-benzylidene-α-d-glucopyranoside (4) to give deoxyglycosides in > 90% yield. Thus, the 2,3-ditosylate (1) and the 3-monotosylate (2) thereof afford methyl 4,6-O-benzylidene-2-deoxy-α-d-ribo-hexopyranoside (7) in highly regio- and stereo-selective reactions that proceed via methyl 2,3-anhydro-4,6-O-benzylidene-α-d-allopyranoside (6), and the 2-monotosylate (8) of 4 gives the 3-deoxy-α-d-arabino isomer (12) of 7via the corresponding 2,3-anhydro-α-d-mannopyranoside 11. In the series of the corresponding β anomers, the 3-monotosylate 14 and the 2-monotosylate 16 are similarly desulfonyloxylated, with equal ease, but furnish mixtures of regioisomeric deoxyglycosides, namely, the 3- and 2-deoxy-β-d-ribo derivatives 20 and 21, and 2- and 3-deoxy-β-d-arabino derivatives 22 and 23, respectively. It could be shown that this difference is due to the failure of the intermediary, β-glycosidic epoxides 18 and 19 (the anomers of 6 and 11) to obey the Fürst-Plattner rule in their reductive ring-opening with LTBH. The β-glycosidic 2,3-ditosylate 15 reacts less readily, and gives 20–23, with 20 preponderating. The 2-O-methyl-3-O-tosyl-β-d-glucopyranoside 24 is partly desulfonylated and partly desulfonyloxylated, whereas its 3-O-methyl-2-O-tosyl isomer 27 undergoes desulfonylation exclusively. The reductions of 1, 2, and 8 by LTBH are compared with those previously effected by lithium aluminum hydride, which are slower, involve considerable desulfonylation, and afford lower yields of deoxyglycosides, with the main products differing from those obtained by the action of LTBH. Mechanistic differences associated with the two reductants are discussed.