Synthesis of glycolipids

Recent advances and discoveries of microbial-based glycolipids: Prospective alternative for remediation activities

Surfactants have always been a prominent chemical that is useful in various sectors (e.g., cleaning agent production industry, textile industry and painting industry). This is due to the special ability of surfactants to reduce surface tension between two fluid surfaces (e.g., water and oil). However, the current society has long omitted the harmful effects of petroleum-based surfactants (e.g., health issues towards humans and reducing cleaning ability of water bodies) due to their usefulness in reducing surface tension. These harmful effects will significantly damage the environment and negatively affect human health. As such, there is an urgency to secure environmentally friendly alternatives such as glycolipids to reduce the effects of these synthetic surfactants. Glycolipids is a biomolecule that shares similar properties with surfactants that are naturally synthesized in the cell of living organisms, glycolipids are amphiphilic in nature and can form micelles when glycolipid molecules clump together, reducing surface tension between two surfaces as how a surfactant molecule is able to achieve. This review paper aims to provide a comprehensive study on the recent advances in bacteria cultivation for glycolipids production and current lab scale applications of glycolipids (e.g., medical and waste bioremediation). Studies have proven that glycolipids are effective anti-microbial agents, subsequently leading to an excellent anti-biofilm forming agent. Heavy metal and hydrocarbon contaminated soil can also be bioremediated via the use of glycolipids. The major hurdle in the commercialization of glycolipid production is that the cultivation stage and downstream extraction stage of the glycolipid production process induces a very high operating cost. This review provides several solutions to overcome this issue for glycolipid production for the commercialization of glycolipids (e.g., developing new cultivating and extraction techniques, using waste as cultivation medium for microbes and identifying new strains for glycolipid production). The contribution of this review aims to serve as a future guideline for researchers that are dealing with glycolipid biosurfactants by providing an in-depth review on the recent advances of glycolipid biosurfactants. By summarizing the points discussed as above, it is recommended that glycolipids can substitute synthetic surfactants as an environmentally friendly alternative.

Synthesis of ether lipids: natural compounds and analogues

Ether lipids are compounds present in many living organisms including humans that feature an ether bond linkage at the sn-1 position of the glycerol. This class of lipids features singular structural roles and biological functions. Alkyl ether lipids and alkenyl ether lipids (also identified as plasmalogens) correspond to the two sub-classes of naturally occurring ether lipids. In 1979 the discovery of the structure of the platelet-activating factor (PAF) that belongs to the alkyl ether class of lipids increased the interest in these bioactive lipids and further promoted the synthesis of non-natural ether lipids that was initiated in the late 60's with the development of edelfosine (an anticancer drug). More recently, ohmline, a glyco glycero ether lipid that modulates selectively SK3 ion channels and reduces in vivo the occurrence of bone metastases, and other glyco glycero ether also identified as GAEL (glycosylated antitumor ether lipids) that exhibit promising anticancer properties renew the interest in this class of compounds. Indeed, ether lipid represent a new and promising class of compounds featuring the capacity to modulate selectively the activity of some membrane proteins or, for other compounds, feature antiproliferative properties via an original mechanism of action. The increasing interest in studying ether lipids for fundamental and applied researches invited to review the methodologies developed to prepare ether lipids. In this review we focus on the synthetic method used for the preparation of alkyl ether lipids either naturally occurring ether lipids (e.g., PAF) or synthetic derivatives that were developed to study their biological properties. The synthesis of neutral or charged ether lipids are reported with the aim to assemble in this review the most frequently used methodologies to prepare this specific class of compounds.

Recent Development in the Design of Neoglycoliposomes Bearing Arborescent Architectures

This brief review highlights systematic progress in the design of synthetic glycolipid (neoglycolipids) analogs evolving from the conventional architectures of natural glycosphingolipids and gangliosides. Given that naturally occurring glycolipids are composed of only one hydrophilic sugar head-group and two hydrophobic lipid tails embedded in the lipid bilayers of the cell membranes, they usually require extraneous lipids (phosphatidylcholine, cholesterol) to confer their stability. In order to obviate the necessity for these additional stabilizing ingredients, recent investigations have merged dendrimer chemistry with that of neoglycolipid syntheses. This singular approach has provided novel glycoarchitectures allowing reconsidering the necessity for the traditional one to two hydrophilic/hydrophobic ratio. An emphasis has been provided in the recent design of modular arborescent neoglycolipid syntheses coined glycodendrimersomes.

Effect of calcium on the dynamic behavior of sialylglycerolipids and phospholipids in mixed model membranes. A 2H and 31P NMR study

DTSL, a sialic acid bearing glyceroglycolipid, has been deuteriated at the C3 position of the sialic acid headgroup and at the C3 position of the glycerol backbone. The glycolipid was studied as a neat dispersion and in multilamellar dispersions of DMPC (at a concentration of 5-10 mol % relative to phospholipid), using 2H and 31P NMR. The quadrupolar splittings, delta v Q, of the headgroup deuterons were found to differ in the neat and mixed dispersion, suggesting different headgroup orientations in the two systems. In DTSL-DMPC liposomes, two quadrupolar splittings were observed, indicating that the axial and equatorial deuterons make different angles with respect to the axis of motional averaging. The splittings originating from the equatorial and axial deuterons were found to increase and decrease with increasing temperature, respectively, indicating a temperature-dependent change in average headgroup orientation. Longitudinal relaxation times, T1Z, were found to be short (3-6 ms). The field dependence of T1Z suggests that more than one motion governs relaxation. At 30.7 MHz a T1Z minimum was observed at approximately 40 degrees C. At 46.1 MHz the T1Z values were longer and increased with temperature, demonstrating that the dominant rigid-body motions of the headgroup at this field are in the rapid motional regime (greater than 10(8) s-1). DTSL labeled at the glycerol C3 position was studied in DMPC multilamellar dispersions. Whereas two quadrupolar splittings have been observed for other glycolipids labeled at this position, only a single delta nu Q was observed. This shows that the orientation of the C2-C3 segment of DTSL relative to the bilayer normal differs from that of other glycolipids.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Physical properties of glycosyldiacylglycerols: an infrared spectroscopic study of the gel-phase polymorphism of 1,2-di-O-acyl-3-O-(beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-sn-glycerols

The thermotropic and barotropic gel-phase polymorphism of a homologous series of saturated, straight-chain beta-D-glucosyldiacylglycerols was studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Three spectroscopically distinct lamellar gel phases were detected thermotropically. Upon cooling to temperatures below the gel/liquid-crystalline phase transition temperature, all of these lipids form a metastable L beta gel phase characterized by orientationally disordered all-trans acyl chains. The transformation of the metastable L beta phase to a stable crystalline (Lc2) phase first involves the formation of an intermediate which itself is an ordered crystal-like (Lc1) phase. In the intermediate Lc1 phase, the zigzag planes of the polymethylene chains are nearly perpendicular to one another, and one of the ester carbonyl oxygens is engaged in a strong hydrogen bond, probably to the 2-hydroxyl of the sugar headgroup. The transformation of the Lc1 phase to the Lc2 phase involves a reorientation of the all-trans hydrocarbon chains and is probably driven by the strengthening of the hydrogen bond between the carbonyl ester oxygen and its proton donors. Since a "solid-state" reorganization of the acyl chains is an integral part of that process, it tends to become more sluggish as the chain length increases and is not observed with the longer chain homologues (N greater than 16). The spectroscopic characteristics of the most stable gel phases of the odd- and even-numbered members of this homologous series of compounds exhibit only minor differences, indicating that the structures of these phases are generally similar. The barotropic phase behavior of the shorter and longer chain beta-D-glucosyldiacylglycerols is also different. Compression of the L beta phase of the shorter chain compounds results in immediate conversion to their stable lc phases, whereas compression of the L beta phase of the longer chains does not. Furthermore, compression of the longer chain compounds may result in the formation of chain-interdigitated bilayers, whereas this is not the case for the shorter chain homologues. We suggest that the gel phase formed by any given homologue at a given temperature or pressure is that which maximizes the sometimes competing requirements for the optimal packing of the sugar headgroups and the hydrocarbon chains.

A comparative monomolecular film study of 1,2-di-O-palmitoyl-3-O-(alpha- and beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-sn-glycerols

The polar headgroup contribution to monolayer behavior of dipalmitoylglucosylglycerol has been examined through studies of 1,2-di-O-palmitoyl-3-O-(alpha-D-glucopyranosyl)-sn-glycerol (di-16:0-alpha GlcDG) and 1,2-di-O-palmitoyl-3-O-(beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-sn-glycerol (di-16:0-beta GlcDG) in which the sugar headgroup is linked via an alpha or beta linkage to the diacylglycerol moiety. The results indicate that the limiting areas per molecule of the resultant condensed states are smaller than those of the corresponding phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) but larger than those of dipalmitoylphosphatidylethanolmine (DPPE). In the expanded state, while the areas per molecule are similar to those of DPPC at low pressures, both glycolipids occupy smaller areas at higher pressures. The expanded-state areas of the glucolipids are also slightly greater than those of DPPE. The initial compressional phase transition pressure of the glucolipid liquid-expanded/liquid-condensed transition (pi t) is, however, less sensitive to temperature than are the pi t values of phospholipids. Both of these effects must relate to strong headgroup/water interactions, which, in turn, result in a stabilization of the liquid-expanded states. In the expanded states the alpha anomers are slightly less tightly packed than the beta anomers, as is indicated by the somewhat higher areas per molecule of the expanded states and the lower transition temperatures. These differences in chain-melting temperatures are slightly smaller than those observed in bilayers. While the areas per molecule of the dipalmitoyl glucolipids are greater than those of dipalmitoylphosphatidylethanolamine, they nevertheless exhibit a greater tendency to form nonbilayer structures. Such observations indicate that other factors besides geometric shape play a role in bilayer/nonbilayer transitions.

The dependence of glyceroglycolipid orientation and dynamics on head-group structure

The head-group orientations and molecular dynamics of three glyceroglycolipids in aqueous dispersions, as determined by 2H-NMR, are compared. 1,2-Di-O-tetradecyl-3-O-(alpha-D-glucopyranosyl)-sn-glycerol (alpha-DTGL) and 1,2-di-O-tetradecyl-3-O-(alpha-D-mannopyranosyl)-sn-glycerol (alpha-DTML), selectively 2H-labelled on the pyranose ring, at the exocyclic hydroxymethyl group, and at C3 of glycerol, have been studied by 2H-NMR and the results compared with those reported earlier for 1,2-di-O-tetradecyl-3-O-(beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-sn-glycerol (beta-DTGL). The alpha-glucolipid exhibits a gel-to-liquid crystal phase transition and a lamellar to hexagonal mesophase transition at temperatures which are similar to those of the beta-anomer, beta-DTGL. However, alpha-DTGL exhibits head group orientations and molecular ordering in the lamellar and hexagonal phases which differ strikingly with those reported for the corresponding beta-glucolipid. Whereas the head group of beta-DTGL is extended away from the bilayer surface into the aqueous phase, that of alpha-DTGL is almost parallel to the bilayer surface. alpha-DTGL exhibits a molecular order parameter of 0.56 which is substantially greater than that of its anomer, beta-DTGL, 0.45. The latter indicates that the head group region of the alpha-glyceroglucolipid is characterized by smaller angular fluctuations than that of beta-DTGL. On entering the hexagonal mesophase the pyranose ring of the beta-glucolipid undergoes a large reorientation relative to the motional axis of the head group, whereas the alpha-anomer exhibits only a small orientational change. 1,2-Di-O-tetradecyl-3-O-(alpha-D-mannopyranosyl)-sn-glycerol (alpha-DTML) undergoes a phase transition at 47 degrees C, attributed to the unusual lamellar gel to hexagonal phase transition. The pyranose ring of alpha-DTML, in a mixture with dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (1:9 mol ratio) to give a lamellar liquid crystalline phase, is oriented away from the bilayer surface into the aqueous environment and has an Smol of 0.75. The results for alpha-DTML, 2H-labelled at the C3 position of glycerol, suggest that this segment also has high molecular ordering. alpha-DTML in a lamellar environment has the least flexible membrane surface of the glyceroglycolipids investigated to date. 2H-NMR spin lattice relaxation times have been used to probe the head group motions of the glycolipids. The results indicate that the rate of head group motion increases in the order alpha-DTML less than alpha-DTGL less than beta-DTGL.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

A Langmuir film balance study of the interactions of ionic and polar solutes with glycolipid monolayers

Using a Langmuir film balance experiments have been conducted to discover if dissolved salts or carbohydrates interact with glycolipid monolayers. Two types of glycolipid were studied, simple glycosides made by ether linking monosaccharides to fatty alcohols and cerebrosides extracted from natural sources. It was found that salts or carbohydrates in the subphase expanded glycolipid monolayers. That is, a monolayer spread on a solution occupied a greater area at a given pressure than it would have spread on pure water. Of the carbohydrates galactose and glucose, galactose caused a markedly greater expansion of monolayers than glucose. However, the magnitude of the expansions measured for stearyl glucoside, mannoside and galactoside films on solutions of a particular sugar were not significantly different, demonstrating that this phenomenon is independent of the glycolipid sugar residue. As with carbohydrates, salts also have differing effects on glycolipid monolayers. Although the effect an individual ion has on a monolayer cannot be directly measured, comparisons between salts indicate that there is a correlation between the size of an ion and the extent of the monolayer expansion it causes. To explain these observations two different mechanisms are proposed. In the case of salts it is suggested that large ions which have a low charge density disrupt water structure in such a way that monolayers spread on the surface of their solutions are expanded. The ability of carbohydrates to expand monolayers is explained in terms of the carbohydrate replacing water molecules bound to the polar groups of the monolayer and in so doing increasing the effective area of the lipid molecules. It is suggested that the molecular mechanisms involved in the interactions of ions and carbohydrates with glycolipid monolayers may also operate in the interactions of glycolipids and glycoproteins with extracellular agents and surfaces.

Preparation, properties, and applications of carbohydrate conjugates of proteins and lipids

As a result of the growing awareness of the involvement of the oligosaccharide moieties of glycoproteins and glycolipids in cell surface recognition and binding phenomena, a wide variety of methods have been developed, many quite recently, for preparing glycoconjugates. The chemical methods used for the attachment of sugars and certain hydrophilic polymers (e.g., polyethylene glycol) are discussed, as are the effects of such modifications on various properties of the protein (immune response, thermal stability and resistance to proteolysis, clearance, and specific binding to cell surface receptors). Enzymatic approaches to glycoconjugate preparation are also considered, and several examples are given of the preparation of model glycolipids, useful in studying cell surface phenomena. In a final section, three areas are considered in which rapid advances seem likely to occur: improved methods for the preparation of glycoconjugates; direct modification of cell surface glycoconjugates; and modification for the purpose of studying location and environment of membrane glycoconjugates.

Synthesis of glycerophospholipids

Recent advances in the synthesis of phosphatidic acids, phosphatidylethanolamines and phosphatidylcholines are described. Methods for the synthesis of some alkylacyl and alk-1-enylacyl analogues of the common diacylglycerophospholipids are also discussed. In addition, synthetic routes are described, that lead to unusual phospholipids such as compounds containing the polar group at position 2 of the glycerol moiety, glycerophospholipids containing alkanolamines of different chain lengths, and glycolphospholipids. All of the common glycerophospholipids can be prepared without the use of protecting groups. Major advances in phospholipid synthesis involve the application of novel phosphorylating agents and the use of cyclic intermediates. Although phosphatidylserines and phosphatidylthreonines as well as phosphatidylglycerols and cardiolipins can be prepared by chemical synthesis, further systematic studies are required to work out procedures that lead to these compounds in high yields.