Synthesis of 2-deoxy-(6-/sup 13/C)glucose

The authors have prepared 2-deoxy-D-(6-/sup 13/C)glucose which will be used to test the stability of 2-deoxy-D-glucose-6-phosphate in brain tissue. They chose to label 2-deoxy-D-glucose at C-6 because of the large chemical shift difference between C-6 in the free sugar and C-6 in the 6-phosphate analog. Their synthetic scheme is similar to that used for the synthesis of D-(6-/sup 13/C)glucose which involves the removal of C-6 from D-glucose followed by its replacement with /sup 13/C. They first prepare the methyl ..cap alpha..-furanoside using trifluoroacetic acid in methanol. This product is then treated with periodate which cleaves only between C-5 and C-6 to form a hydrated aldehyde which is reacted directly with K/sup 13/CN to form a mixture of nitriles. The enriched nitriles are reduced with hydrogen to a mixture of 6-aldehydo sugars using a 5% Pd on carbon catalyst. These sugars are reduced with NaBH/sub 4/ to a mixture of labeled methyl furanosides. Acid hydrolysis followed by chromatography yields 2-deoxy-D-(6-/sup 13/C)glucose in an overall yield of 10% from K/sup 13/CN.