Dual course of bisacetonation of D-xylose in a system Me2CO-Me2C(OMe)2-H2SO4

In the course of formation of a bisisopropylidene protective group by keeping D-xylose in a mixture Me₂CO-(MeO)₂CMe₂-H₂SO₄ alongside the expected 1,2:4,5-O-diisopropylidene derivative formed minor dimethylacetal, 2,3:4,5-O-diisopropylidene-D-xylose, inseparable from the main product by the chromatography on SiO₂. The conditions were found for the selective formation and isolation of the latter, some its one-pot transformations were studied resulting in synthetically promising orthogonally protected acyclic C⁵-synthons.