The invention relates to a method for preparing an at least partially
acetal-protected
sugar, involving the step of reacting a
sugar or a
sugar derivative selected from the group consisting of valeraldoses, hexanoses, valeraldoglycosides and hexanoglycosides with an
aldehyde or a source of
aldehyde in the presence of a heterogeneous acidic catalyst, forming an at least partially
acetal-protected sugar selected from the group consisting of compounds of formulae (I), (II), (III), (IV), (V), (VI,) (VII), (VIII), (IX), (X), (XI) and (XII), # imgabs0, r1, R1 ', R2, R2', R3, R3 ', R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, R9, R10, R11, R12 and R12' are Y or Z-E, where R1 and R1 ', R2 and R2', R3 and R3 ', R12 and R12' are equal to or different from each other and Y is
hydrogen or a linear, branched or
cyclic hydrocarbon moiety having 1 to 20 carbon atoms, Z is a linear, branched or
cyclic hydrocarbon moiety having 0 to 12 carbon atoms, optionally substituted with 1 to 4 C1 to C4
alkyl groups, 1 to 4
halogen atoms or benzyl groups, e is-COOH,-CH (COOH) 2,-COOR19,-CH (COOR20) (COOR21),-CHO,-CH (CHO) 2,-C2H3, CH (C2H3) 2,-CHCHR22,-CHCR23R24,-C2H,-C2R25,-N3,-NH2,-CH (NH2) 2,-NHR26,-CH (NHR27) (NHR28),-NR29R30,-CH (NR36OH),-OH,-OR35,-CH (R36OH), and R19, R20, R21, R22, R23, R24, R25, R26, R27, R28, R29, R32, R33, R34 and R37OH and R13, R14, R15, R16, R17 and R18 are each independently
hydrogen or a linear, branched or
cyclic hydrocarbon moiety having 1 to 20 carbon atoms.