2D NMR analysis of the polylactone derivative of colominic acid. Complete 1H and 13C NMR chemical shift assignments

Synthesis of sulfated colominic acids and their interaction with fibroblast growth factors

Colominic acid, an alpha (2-->8)-linked poly(sialic acid), was sulfated and characterized by NMR spectroscopy. During sulfation, the secondary hydroxyl group at C-4 had almost the same reactivity as the primary hydroxyl group at C-9, while the secondary hydroxyl group at C-7 was hardly substituted. Analysis by molecular modeling suggested that the lack of substitution at C-7 was due to a steric hindrance. A mobility shift assay indicated that FGF-2 bound to the sulfated colominic acid. Synthetic sulfated colominic acid potentiated the mitogenic activity of FGFs for fibroblasts in the same manner as heparin. Sulfated colominic acid with a low degree of sulfation was able to potentiate FGF activity. Regardless of the degree of sulfation, sulfated colominic acid-induced cytotoxicity was not observed. It was suggested that the carboxyl groups in sulfated colominic acid cooperate with the sulfate groups to reinforce the interaction with FGFs and to reduce the cytotoxicity of sulfated colominic acids.

Lactones of methyl 3-O

Lactones of methyl 3-O-[(R)- and (S)-1-carboxyethyl]-alpha-D-gluco-, galacto- and manno-pyranoside were prepared by treatment of the sugar derivatives in acetic acid. The lactones were formed between the 1-carboxyethyl substituent and 2-OH or 4-OH in different proportions depending on the stereochemistry of the parent compounds. Relative formation rates in acetic acid-d4 and hydrolysis rates in buffered D2O solutions at pD 2.4, 4.6 and 7.4 were estimated. Hydrolysis of the formed lactones is relatively slow in D2O at pD 4.6, which permitted characterization of the lactones by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy in buffered D2O solutions. Hydrolysis of the lactones in 1 M aqueous NaOH at 80 degrees C gave no detectable isomerization of the alpha-carbon. The set of lactones formed from the 1-carboxyethyl substituted methyl glycosides used in this study showed large similarities in the NMR shifts (delta delta values). Deviations from the observed shift pattern were found for two lactones. Our findings strongly suggest that those two lactones differ from the rest by adopting a boat-like conformation, whereas the others adopt pseudo-chair conformations.