A new family of activated glycosidic compounds has been designed and synthesized:(2, 3, 4, 6-tetra-O-acetyl-β-d-glucopyranosyl)-2-nitrophenylmethane (1). It is stable in conditions commonly used for synthesis, and it can be converted to a sugar lactone derivative merely by photoirradiation (λ= 365nm): 2, 3, 4, 6-tetra-O-acetyl-d-glucono-1, 5-lactone (2). A mechanism for the reaction is proposed. The photochemical conversion of 1 in the ...