Partial rnethylation of D-mannose diethyl dithioacetal in tetrahydrofuran with methyl iodide and silver oxide yielded 2-, 3-, and 6-0-methyl-D-mannose in the ratio of 12:1:1, respectively. The major cotnponent, 2-0-methyl-D-mannose, was characterized as the phen) 1-hydrazone and the other isomers identified by electrophoresis. The Mg values of these mono-0-methyl ethers were recorded.In Part I of this series it was demonstrated that various sugar dithioacetals could be successfully methylated in tetrahydrofuran with methyl iodide and silver oxide (I). Subsequent papers have reported the nature of the mono-0-methyl ethers obtained by partial methylation of the diethyl dithioacetals of L-arabinose (2), D-galactose (3), and D-xylose (4). The present paper reports the mono-0-methyl ethers obtained by methylation of D-mannose diethyl dithioacetal under similar conditions and is a continuation of our study on the relative reactivities of hydroxyl groups in sugar dithioacetals.Preparation of D-mannose diethyl dithioacetal by Fischer's method (5) was found to give unreliable results since on several occasions the crude product decomposed on washing with ice water. I t was found preferable to neutralize with barium carbonate and dilute with lnethanol whence the dithioacetal could be obtained by evaporation of the filtered solution.The drthioacetal was shaken in tetrahydrofuran a t room temperature with an appropriate amount of silver oxide and methyl iodide to give a reasonable yield of the mono-0-methyl ethers, after hydrolysis. The mono-and di-0-methyl ethers were separated from the unchanged and poly-0-methylated D-mannoses by chromatography in butanonewater azeotrope.Electrophoresis in 0.05 M borate showed that the mixture of mono-0-methyl ethers contained three isomers, one of which was predominant judging from the size and intensity of the spots. These three components had M , values of 0.38, 0.54, and 0.63, and were shown to be 2-, 3-, and 6-0-methyl-D-mannose, respectively, by concurrent electrophoretic examination with synthetic samples of these isomers. 2-0-hIethyl-D-mannose gave the strongest and largest spot, and the others were weak and small. The mixture of di-0-methyl ethers, which might contain the 5-0-methyl ether, was also examined by electrophoresis but only a very slowly migrating component was detected, suggesting no 5-Omethyl ether was present.The phenol -sulphuric acid method (6) of quantitative analysis on the mixture of mono-0-methyl-D-mannoses gave a ratio of 12:l:l for 2-, 3-, and 6-0-methyl-D-mannose, respectively.The mixture of mono-0-methyl-D-mannoses was separated on Whatman No. 3MM paper by electrophoresis and the area corresponding t o the 2-0-methyl-D-mannose was extracted with water. The extract was deionized and evaporated to a sirup, which was 'Present address: