Isomannide and Derivatives. Chemical and Pharmaceutical Applications

Isomannide, 1,4: 3,6-dianhydro-D-mannitol, is a commercially available chiral carbohydrate derived from ready dehydration of naturally occurring D-mannitol. This compound and its derivatives have been widely used in many areas such as building blocks for polymers synthesis, pharmaceutically important compounds, catalysts in asymmetric synthesis, chiral auxiliaries, and recently, in the synthesis of ionic liquids. In this review we show examples of these applications of isomannide and derivatives.