title: Sn-Beta zeolites with borate salts catalyse the epimerization of carbohydrates via an intramolecular carbon shift.
abstract: Carbohydrate epimerization is an essential technology for the widespread production of rare sugars. In contrast to other enzymes, most epimerases are only active on sugars substituted with phosphate or nucleotide groups, thus drastically restricting their use. Here we show that Sn-Beta zeolite in the presence of sodium tetraborate catalyses the selective epimerization of aldoses in aqueous media. Specifically, a 5 wt% aldose (for example, glucose, xylose or arabinose) solution with a 4:1 aldose:sodium tetraborate molar ratio reacted with catalytic amounts of Sn-Beta yields near-equilibrium epimerization product distributions. The reaction proceeds by way of a 1,2 carbon shift wherein the bond between C-2 and C-3 is cleaved and a new bond between C-1 and C-3 is formed, with C-1 moving to the C-2 position with an inverted configuration. This work provides a general method of performing carbohydrate epimerizations that surmounts the main disadvantages of current enzymatic and inorganic processes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: William R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Gunther
authors.forename: Yuran
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yuewei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: Vladimir K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Michaelis
authors.forename: Sean T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Hunt
authors.forename: Robert G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Griffin
authors.forename: Yuriy
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Román-Leshkov
mesh_terms: D001089:Arabinose / Q000737:chemistry; D001881:Borates / Q000737:chemistry*; D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000737:chemistry*; D002384:Catalysis; D005947:Glucose / Q000737:chemistry; D015394:Molecular Structure; D014994:Xylose / Q000737:chemistry; D017641:Zeolites / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D001881:Borates; D002241:Carbohydrates; D017641:Zeolites; C010634:sodium borate; D014994:Xylose; D001089:Arabinose; D005947:Glucose