A convenient route to keto-glycosyl phosphates

The reagent combination, ruthenium dioxide/sodium periodate/benzyltriethyl ammonium chloride in dichloromethane/aqueous bicarbonate buffer simultaneously oxidises alcohol functions in the sugar ring and glycosyl H-phosphonates to yield keto-glycosyl phosphates. These can be coupled to the respective nucleoside diphosphates to render biosynthetically relevant sugar metabolites and derivatives thereof, useful for further investigation of the polysaccharide biosynthesis in bacteria and plants.