Decarbonylation of sugars by chlorotris(triphenylphosphine)rhodium

Abstract

Unprotected aldose sugars are smoothyl decarbonylated by 1 equiv. of chlorotris(triphenylphosphine)rhodium in N-methylpyrrolidin-2-one at 130 °C to give the next lower alditol and carbonylchlorobis(triphenylphosphine)rhodium; ketose sugars undergo more complex dehydration–decarbonylation reactions.