Synthesis and characterization of naturally occurring organoarsenic compounds

series of naturally occurring arsenosugars have been synthesized and characterized. The structures of these compounds are shown below:(DIAGRAM, TABLE OR GRAPHIC OMITTED...PLEASE SEE DAI);Arsenosugars have been found in a wide variety of marine algae, which are at the base of the food-chain in marine biota. They may play an important role in the biotransformation of arsenic in marine systems. The availability of these synthetic materials will greatly aid the study of their biotransformation in the marine environment, the evaluation of their toxicity, and provide standards for chromatographic experiments aimed at developing analytical techniques for the detection and identification of these arsenosugars in the marine biota.;The syntheses of these compounds were approached from D-ribose, with early substitution of the hydroxy group with bromine at C5, subsequent attachment of a chiral three-carbon aglycone at C1, and final delivery of arsenic at C5. The overall yields of these syntheses were typically better than 17%, and thus these syntheses provide viable routes for the preparation of multigram quantities of the natural products. Many other interesting organoarsenic compounds closely related to the naturally occurring arsenosugars were also synthesized. All these compounds were characterized by...