Electrochemical strategies for selective carbohydrate scaffold modification

Abstract

During the last decade, electrosynthesis has emerged as a highly useful synthetic strategy to access complex organic compounds via intermediate radical species. In the context of carbohydrates, electrochemically driven methods have primarily been used to furnish oxocarbenium ion intermediates for glycosylation reactions. Here, we outline a selection of transformations that take off from this established activation mode and provide new routes to structurally diverse glycan-based compounds under net-oxidative, net-reductive and paired electrolytic conditions.