| Abstrakt: |
Inositol is a deceptively simple molecule. On closer study, a number of sophisticated stereochemical, prochiral, chiral, and conformational issues associated with inositols and their derivatives become evident. Inositols, in particular myo-inositol, play a central role in cellular metabolism. An array of complicated molecules that incorporate the inositol moiety are found in nature. Structural heterogeneity of inositol derivatives is compounded by the presence of stereo- and regioisomers of the inositol unit. Because of the large number of isomeric inositols and their derivatives present in nature, a detailed understanding of the structural, stereochemical, and nomenclature issues involving inositol and its derivatives is essential to investigate biological aspects. A discussion of the stereochemical, conformational, prochiral, chiral, and nomenclature issues associated with inositols and the structural variety of insoitol derivatives is presented in this chapter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
