PREPARATION, STRUCTURE, DERIVATIZATION AND NMR DATA OF CYCLOHEXANE-1,2-DIACETAL PROTECTED CARBOHYDRATES

Acid catalysed reaction of monosaccharides with 1,1,2,2-tetramethoxycy clohexane results in selective protection of vicinal, diequatorial, di ol functionality as a cyclohexane-1,2-diacetal (CDA). This new methodo logy complements classical cyclic acetal protecting group strategies w hich in general are not able to mask diols with such diequatorial ster eochemistry. The resulting CDA protected derivatives can be readily fu nctionalised to give rapid access to numerous key building blocks for oligosaccharide and natural product synthesis.