Total Syntheses of Carbohydrates: Organocatalyzed Aldol Additions of Dihydroxyacetone

The selective total synthesis of carbohydrates with defined configuration has been of great interest for a long time. This field has been the domain of enzymatic methods so far. But now the recent development of several organocatalyzed aldol methodologies has made a selective synthetic approach to configuratively defined carbohydrates possible. This development and different strategies will be discussed in this concept article. Total synthesis of carbohydrates: Recent developments of several organocatalyzed aldol methodologies for the total synthesis of carbohydrates to obtain configurationally defined products are discussed.