Formose Reactions. II. The Photochemical Formose Reaction

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Abstract
Under UV irradiation in the presence of an inorganic base, aqueous formaldehyde was found to give pentaerythritol and 2-hydroxymethylglycerol as the main products, accompanied by the concomitant formation of a mixture of sugars and sugar alcohols. The results indicate that this photochemical formose reaction is considerably different in product distribution from the thermal formose reaction using the Ca(OH)2 catalyst. The detailed examination of the photochemical formose reaction was carried out in the presence of Na2CO3, and a possible scheme for the formation of pentaerythritol and 2-hydroxymethylglycerol is proposed.