Group of new chemicals with plant growth regulatory activity

Abstract

THE synthesis of L-ascorbic acid developed by Reichstein and Grüssner¹ is one of very few examples of large scale production of a biologically active monosaccharide. Although the importance of monosaccharides to plants has long been recognised, and several plant growth regulators have been discovered, few of these are carbohydrates and none is a monosaccharide. Active compounds which may be regarded as derivatives of monosaccharides, such as aminoglycosides², are chemically too complex to be synthesised on a large scale. We were therefore surprised to find that sodium 2,3:4,6-di-O-isopropylidene-α-L-xylo-2-hexulofuranosonate (I, accepted common name, dikegulac-sodium), an intermediate in the commercial synthesis of L-ascorbic acid, acts as a plant growth regulator.