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.
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References
Reichstein, T., and Grüssner, A., Helv. Chim. Acta, 17, 311 (1934).
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BOCION, P., DE SILVA, W., HÜPPI, G. et al. Group of new chemicals with plant growth regulatory activity. Nature 258, 142–144 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/258142a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/258142a0
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