Electrochemical transformations of carbohydrates

Electrochemical reactions of carbohydrates are useful for the synthesis of carbohydrate derivatives and oligosaccharides. This short review outlines electrochemical reductive transformations which have been utilized to modify monosaccharides. Electrochemical oxidation is useful to oxidize hydroxyl groups of monosaccharides site -selectively. Electrochemical glycosylation of building blocks such as thioglycosides, glycosyl orthoesters, and glycals has also been reported. Automated one -pot syntheses of linear and cyclic oligosaccharides have been developed based on electrochemical methods.