Altrose is an
aldohexose
In chemistry, a hexose is a monosaccharide (simple sugar) with six carbon atoms. The chemical formula for all hexoses is C6H12O6, and their molecular weight is 180.156 g/mol.
Hexoses exist in two forms, open-chain or cyclic, that easily convert ...
sugar.
D-Altrose is an unnatural
monosaccharide
Monosaccharides (from Greek ''monos'': single, '' sacchar'': sugar), also called simple sugars, are the simplest forms of sugar and the most basic units (monomers) from which all carbohydrates are built.
They are usually colorless, water-solub ...
. It is soluble in water and practically insoluble in
methanol
Methanol (also called methyl alcohol and wood spirit, amongst other names) is an organic chemical and the simplest aliphatic alcohol, with the formula C H3 O H (a methyl group linked to a hydroxyl group, often abbreviated as MeOH). It is a ...
. However, L-altrose has been isolated from strains of the bacterium ''
Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens
''Butyrivibrio'' is a genus of bacteria in Class Clostridia. Bacteria of this genus are common in the gastrointestinal systems of many animals. Genus ''Butyrivibrio'' was first described by Bryant and Small (1956) as anaerobic, butyric acid-pr ...
''.
Altrose is a C-3
epimer
In stereochemistry, an epimer is one of a pair of diastereomers. The two epimers have opposite configuration at only one stereogenic center out of at least two. All other stereogenic centers in the molecules are the same in each. Epimerization is ...
of
mannose
Mannose is a sugar monomer of the aldohexose series of carbohydrates. It is a C-2 epimer of glucose. Mannose is important in human metabolism, especially in the glycosylation of certain proteins. Several congenital disorders of glycosylation ...
. The ring
conformation of α-altropyranoside is flexible compared to most other aldohexopyranosides, with
idose
Idose is a hexose, a six carbon monosaccharide. It has an aldehyde group and is an aldose. It is not found in nature, but its uronic acid, iduronic acid, is important. It is a component of dermatan sulfate and heparan sulfate, which are glycosam ...
as exception. In solution different derivatives of altrose have been shown to occupy both
4C
1,
OS
2 and
1C
4-conformations.
References
{{Carbohydrates
Aldohexoses