Mucic acid can be used to replace tartaric acid in self-rising flour or fizzies. It has been used as a precursor of adipic acid in the way to nylon by a rhenium-catalyzed deoxydehydration reaction. It has been used as a precursor of Taxol in Nicolaou Taxol total synthesis (1994).
Mucic acid test is a test that is highly specific and is used for the detection of the presence of galactose and lactose. It is also termed galactaric acid that is named after the product of the reaction.
Sugar acids obtained by aldohexose oxidation of both the terminal aldehyde group and the hydroxy group at the other end to carboxyl groups are called hexaric acids (i.e., six-carbon aldaric acids). Because hexaric acids have four secondary hydroxy groups that are stereochemically diverse and two carboxyl groups, various applications of these acids have been studied. Conventionally, hexaric acids have been produced mainly by nitric acid oxidation of aldohexose, but full-scale commercialization has not been realized; there are many problems regarding yield, safety, environmental burden, etc.
