A novel and facile one-pot isomerization of aldo-disaccharides to keto-disaccharides is achieved by making use of deep sea water in sub-critical conditions. The resulting keto-disaccharides having pharmaceutical and food applications were obtained in modest yields of about 30–32% at the optimum reaction conditions (temperature: 180 °C, reaction time: 5 min). Detailed investigation of all major ions in deep sea water revealed that bicarbonate ions play a key role as a catalyst in this isomerization reaction.
