Recent Advances in the Chemistry of Bioactive 3-Deoxy-Ulosonic Acids

Abstract This article describes recent developments in the chemistry of an important family of complex monosaccharides which have diverse structures and participate in a wide range of biological processes. For example: 3-deoxy- d - manno -2-octulosonic acid (KDO) is a key component of the lipopolysaccharides (LPS) of Gramm-negative bacteria, 3-deoxy- d - arabino -2-heptulosonic acid (DAH) is a key intermediate in the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids in bacteria and plants. A number of their syntheses that were achieved by homologation reactions of the natural carbohydrate units using enzymatic or chemical methods, as well as by total synthetic approaches are here included. Special emphasis is placed on new methodologies and their correlation with the biosynthetic pathway of the corresponding ulosonic acids. This chapter is not intended to cover all available literature, since other review articles have been published. It tries to demonstrate the real contribution, showing that the development of general and efficient strategies for the construction of these important compounds still remains as significant.