THE PREPARATION OF PARTIALLY METHY- 

 LATED SUGARS AND POLYHYDRIC 

 ALCOHOLS 



MUCH of the work which has appeared from the Chemical 

 Research Laboratory of St. Andrews during the past ten 

 years has been concerned with the preparation and properties 

 of methylated sugars in which only the reducing group 

 remains unsubstituted. As examples of such compounds we 

 have the tetramethyl derivatives of glucose, fructose, mannose, 

 and galactose, trimethyl arabinose and trimethyl rhamnose. 

 The study of alkylated sugars of this nature has yielded 

 results of theoretical interest which are referred to in detail 

 in another communication to this volume. 1 



It will be seen, however, by inspection of the formula of 

 a typical example, such as tetramethyl glucose : 



CH . OH 

 / CH . OCH 3 



9 I 



\ CH.OCH 3 

 CH 



CH . OCH 3 



I 

 CH 2 . OCH 3 



that the reactivity of the molecule is practically confined to 



1 Young, A General Review ofPurdie's Reaction. 



165 



