A mechanism about the origin of the selectivities for the cleavage of dioxolane five-membered rings on pyranoside rings was suggested. Quantum chemical studies were performed to testify the rationality of the mechanism. It is thus suggested that the selectivities should be dependent on the differences of the free energy at the transition states when the five-membered ring cleaves. Natural bond orbital(NBO) analysis was further made to assess the influence of stereoelectronic effects on the selectivities.
