A novel and environmental friendly synthetic route for hydroxypyrrolidines using zeolites

Green synthesis of 1,5-dideoxy-1,5-imino-ribitol and 1,5-dideoxy-1,5-imino-DL-arabinitol from natural D-sugars over Au/Al2O3 and SO42-/Al2O3 catalysts

A green synthetic route for the synthesis of some potential enzyme active hydroxypiperidine iminosugars including 1,5-dideoxy-1,5-imino-ribitol and 1,5-dideoxy-1,5-imino-dl-arabinitol, starting from commercially available d-ribose and d-lyxose was tested out. Heterogeneous catalysts including Au/Al₂O₃, SO₄²⁻/Al₂O₃ as well as environmentally friendly reagents were employed into several critical reaction of the route. The synthetic route resulted in good overall yields of 1,5-dideoxy-1,5-imino-ribitol of 54%, 1,5-dideoxy-1,5-imino-d-arabinitol of 48% and 1,5-dideoxy-1,5-imino-l-arabinitol of 46%. The Au/Al₂O₃ catalyst can be easily recovered from the reaction mixture and reused with no loss of activity.