Versatile acetylation of carbohydrate substrates with bench-top sulfonic acids and application to one-pot syntheses of peracetylated thioglycosides

Inexpensive and readily available sulfonic acids, p-toluenesulfonic acid, and sulfuric acid are versatile and efficient catalysts for the peracetylation of a broad spectrum of carbohydrate substrates in good yield and in a practical time frame. Three appealing features in sulfonic acid-catalyzed acetylation of free sugars were explored including (1) suppression of furanosyl acetate formation for d-galactose and l-fucose; (2) high yielding chemoselective acetylation of sialic acid under appropriate conditions; and (3) peracetylation of amino sugars with different amino protecting functions. Simple one-pot two step acetylation–thioglycosidation methods for the expeditious synthesis of p-tolyl per-O-acetyl thioglycosides were also delineated.