When treated with Bu2SnO in a suitable solvent, reducing sugars preferentially form 1,2-O-stannylene acetals and, on prolonged treatment with a slight excess of the reagent at reflux temperature, they undergo epimerization. This allows simple preparation of rare monosaccharides from readily available, unprotected starting materials. The process is equilibrium driven, and the equilibrium is shifted largely in favor of structures having an axial hydroxyl group at position 2.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.