Synthesis of a spacer-containing trimeric fragment of the capsular polysaccharide from Escherichia coli K100

Zwitterionic glycosidase inhibitors: salacinol and related analogues

Natural products with interesting biological properties and structural diversity have often served as valuable lead drug candidates for the treatment of human diseases. Salacinol, a naturally occurring alpha-glucosidase inhibitor, was shown to be one of the active principles of the aqueous extract of a medicinal plant that has been prescribed traditionally as an Ayurvedic treatment for type II diabetes. Salacinol contains an intriguing zwitterionic sulfonium-sulfate structure that comprises a 1,4-anhydro-4-thio-D-arabinitol core and a polyhydroxylated acyclic chain. Due to the unique structural features and its potential to become a lead drug candidate in the treatment of type II diabetes, a great deal of attention has been focused on salacinol and its analogues. Since the isolation of salacinol, several papers describing various synthetic routes to salacinol and its analogues have appeared in the literature. This review is aimed at highlighting the synthetic aspects of salacinol and related compounds as well as their structure-activity relationship studies.

Synthesis of d-lyxitol and d-ribitol analogues of the naturally occurring glycosidase inhibitor salacinol

The synthesis of analogues of the naturally occurring glycosidase inhibitor, salacinol, in which the D-arabinitol ring has been replaced by D-lyxitol or D-ribitol, is described. Salacinol is one of the active principles in the aqueous extracts of Salacia reticulata, which are traditionally used in India and Sri Lanka for the treatment of Type II diabetes. The synthetic strategy relies on the nucleophilic attack of 1,4-anhydro-2,3,5-tri-O-p-methoxybenzyl-4-thio-D-lyxitol or 1,4-anhydro-2,3,5-tri-O-p-methoxybenzyl-4-thio-D-ribitol at the least hindered carbon of the benzylidene-protected L-cyclic sulfate derived from L-erythritol. Screening of these compounds against recombinant human maltase glucoamylase (MGA), a critical intestinal glucosidase involved in the processing of oligosaccharides of glucose into glucose itself, shows that they are not effective inhibitors of MGA and demonstrates the importance of the d-arabinitol configuration in the heterocyclic ring for effective inhibition.