Chemo-, stereo- and regioselective hydrogenolysis of carbohydrate benzylidene acetals. Synthesis of benzyl ethers of benzyl α-d-, methyl β-D-mannopyranosides and benzyl α-D-rhamnopyranoside by ring cleavage of benzylidene derivatives with the LiAlH4-AlCl3 reagent

18F-labelled gentiobiose as potential PET-radiotracer for specific bacterial imaging: precursor synthesis, radiolabelling and in vitro evaluation

AIM

Bacterial infections are a clinical challenge, requiring fast and specific diagnosis to ensure effective treatment. Therefore, this project is dedicated to development of positron emission tomography (PET) radiotracers specifically targeting bacteria. Unlike previously developed bacteria-specific radiotracers, which are successful in detecting Gram-negative bacteria, tracers capable of imaging Gram-positive infections are still lacking.

METHODS

The disaccharide gentiobiose as abundant part of the cell wall of Gram-positive bacteria could fill this gap. Herein, the synthesis and evaluation of 2'-deoxy-2'-[18F]fluorogentiobiose ([18F]FLA280) is reported. The precursor for radiolabelling was obtained from a convergent synthesis under application of a benzylidene/benzyl group protecting strategy.

RESULTS

The first catalytic hydrogenation in 18F-radiochemistry is reported as proof of concept. The deprotection was carried out without any side product formation, giving the final radiotracer [18F]FLA280 in good radiochemical yield and excellent radiochemical purity. [18F]FLA280 was proven to be stable in murine and human blood serum for 120 minutes and was subjected to in vitro bacterial uptake studies towards S. aureus and E. coli resulting in a low bacterial uptake.

CONCLUSION

The observed bacterial uptake indicates that [18F]FLA280 may be not a promising tracer candidate for in vivo translation and alternative candidates particularly for Gram-positive bacteria are required. However, further development on the concept of labelled carbohydrates and cell wall building blocks might be promising.

4,6-Di-O-Benzylidenyl group-directed preparation of 2-deoxy-2-azido-α-d-galactopyranosides promoted by 3-O-TBDPS

In this study, we designed a method to prepare 2-deoxy-2-azido-α-d-galactopyranosidic bonds using 4,6-di-O-benzylidenyl-3-O-t-butyldiphenylsilyl protected 2-deoxy-2-azido-1-thio-d-galactopyranoside 5 as donors. The donor 5 gives a good to excellent α-selectivity in the glycosylation with secondary alcohols, which was found to be associated with the benzylidenyl on 4,6-di-O and TBDPS on 3-O of the donor 5. Compared with results of the donor 6 and 7, the 3-O-TBDPS could increase the activity of the thioglycoside, and the lone pairs on 4,6-di-O-benzylidenyl group enhanced the gg-cofnormation, which plays a role in improving the stereoselectivity. Finally, this method was demonstrated through the synthesis of a α-galactosamine -containing pentasaccharide 26.

"One-Pot" Protection, Glycosylation, and Protection-Glycosylation Strategies of Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates, which are ubiquitously distributed throughout the three domains of life, play significant roles in a variety of vital biological processes. Access to unique and homogeneous carbohydrate materials is important to understand their physical properties, biological functions, and disease-related features. It is difficult to isolate carbohydrates in acceptable purity and amounts from natural sources. Therefore, complex saccharides with well-defined structures are often most conviently accessed through chemical syntheses. Two major hurdles, regioselective protection and stereoselective glycosylation, are faced by carbohydrate chemists in synthesizing these highly complicated molecules. Over the past few years, there has been a radical change in tackling these problems and speeding up the synthesis of oligosaccharides. This is largely due to the development of one-pot protection, one-pot glycosylation, and one-pot protection-glycosylation protocols and streamlined approaches to orthogonally protected building blocks, including those from rare sugars, that can be used in glycan coupling. In addition, new automated strategies for oligosaccharide syntheses have been reported not only for program-controlled assembly on solid support but also by the stepwise glycosylation in solution phase. As a result, various sugar molecules with highly complex, large structures could be successfully synthesized. To summarize these recent advances, this review describes the methodologies for one-pot protection and their one-pot glycosylation into the complex glycans and the chronological developments associated with automated syntheses of oligosaccharides.

Selective 4,6-O-benzylidene formation of methyl α-D-mannopyranoside using 2,6-dimethylbenzaldehyde

While methyl α-d-glucopyranosides and α-d-galactopyranosides selectively form 4,6-O-benzylidenes when reacted with excess benzaldehyde in the presence of acid catalyst methyl α-d-mannopyranosides does not exhibit the same selectivity because of the cis-arrangement of the C2 and C3 hydroxyl groups. The selectivity for the 4,6-O-benzylidene is restored by using 2,6-dimethylbenzaldehyde instead of benzaldehyde. In addition the excess 2,6-dimethylbenzaldehyde is easily recovered from the reaction by extraction with petroleum ether and can be reused without further purification. The 2,6-dimethylbenzylidene exhibits properties similar to the unsubstituted benzylidene with regard to chemical synthesis.

Synthesis and absolute structures of Mycoplasma pneumoniae beta-glyceroglycolipid antigens

Just recently, a pair of beta-glycolipids was isolated from the cell membrane of Mycoplasma pneumoniae as a mixture of the two compounds. They are the major immunodeterminants of this pathogenic Mycoplasma and indicate high medicinal potential. They have a beta-(1-->6)-linked disaccharide structure close to each other; one has beta-d-galactopyranoside (beta-Gal-type 1) at the non-reducing terminal, and another has beta-d-glucopyranoside (beta-Glc-type 2). In the present study, the first stereoselective synthesis was conducted for each of the two beta-glycolipids 1 and 2. (1)H NMR and TLC-immunostaining studies of the synthetic compounds enable us to establish the absolute structures having the beta-(1-->6)-linked disaccharides at the glycerol sn-3 position.

Immunogens related to the synthetic tetrasaccharide side chain of the Bacillus anthracis exosporium

The known methyl 2-O-acetyl-3,4-di-O-benzyl-1-thio-alpha-L-rhamnopyranoside (3) was converted to the corresponding 5-methoxycarbonylpentyl glycoside 4 which was deacetylated. The product 5 was used as the initial glycosyl acceptor to construct two trirhamnoside glycosyl acceptors having HO-3(III) flanked by either benzoyl or benzyl groups, compounds 10 and 29, respectively [fully protected, except HO-3(III), alpha-L-Rha-(1-->3)-alpha-L-Rha-(1-->2)-alpha-L-Rha-1-O-(CH2)5COOCH3]. When these were glycosylated with ethyl 4-azido-3-O-benzyl-4,6-dideoxy-2-O-bromoacetyl-1-thio-beta-D-glucopyranoside (18), only the benzylated glycosyl acceptor 29 gave good yield of the desired tetrasaccharide 30. The alpha- and beta-linked products, together with the corresponding orthoester 23, were formed in almost equal amount when glycosylation of 10 was performed with the glycosyl donor carrying the 2-O-bromoacetyl protecting group. Deprotection at O-2 of 30, followed by further functionalization of the molecule and global deprotection, gave the 5-methoxycarbonylpentyl glycoside of the title tetrasaccharide, beta-Ant-(1-->3)-alpha-L-Rha-(1-->3)-alpha-L-Rha-(1-->2)-alpha-L-Rha (35). Except for differences due to presence of the anomeric 5-methoxycarbonylpentyl group, the fully assigned NMR spectra of glycoside 35 were found to be virtually identical to those reported for the parent tetrasaccharide isolated from Bacillus anthracis exosporium, thus proving the correct structure assigned to the naturally occurring substance. All theoretically possible structural fragments of 35, as well as analog of 35 lacking the 2-O-methyl group at the terminal 4,6-dideoxyglucosyl residue, compound 40, were also synthesized. Tetrasaccharide 35, its beta-linked and non-methylated analogs 2 and 40, respectively, as well as the trirhamnoside fragment of 35, glycoside 12, were further functionalized and conjugated to BSA using squaric acid chemistry, to give neoglycoconjugates with a predetermined carbohydrate-protein ratio of approximately 3 and approximately 6.

Odorless benzenethiols in synthesis of thioglycosides and its application for glycosylation reactions

p-Octyloxybenzenethiol (2) was synthesized as a new odorless benzenethiol. Moreover, preparation of thioglycosides using 2 and their application for glycosylation reactions were attempted. As a result, it was found that the thioglycosides were as excellent glycosyl donors as 4-dodecylphenyl 1-thio-glycosides, which were previously reported by our group, and more useful than the previous donors in terms of fine chemistry in glycosylation reaction activated with silver triflate and N-iodosuccinimide (NIS). In addition, this method was applicable to the sialylation with NIS and triflic acid. All procedures from the preparation of thioglycosides to the glycosylation reaction could be attained completely under conditions where no malodor was generated.

Design and synthesis of inositolphosphoglycan putative insulin mediators

The binding modes of a series of molecules, containing the glucosamine (1-->6) myo-inositol structural motif, into the ATP binding site of the catalytic subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) have been analysed using molecular docking. These calculations predict that the presence of a phosphate group at the non-reducing end in pseudodisaccharide and pseudotrisaccharide structures properly orientate the molecule into the binding site and that pseudotrisaccharide structures present the best shape complementarity. Therefore, pseudodisaccharides and pseudotrisaccharides have been synthesised from common intermediates using effective synthetic strategies. On the basis of this synthetic chemistry, the feasibility of constructing small pseudotrisaccharide libraries on solid-phase using the same intermediates has been explored. The results from the biological evaluation of these molecules provide additional support to an insulin-mediated signalling system which involves the intermediacy of inositolphosphoglycans as putative insulin mediators.

The presence of water improves reductive openings of benzylidene acetals with trimethylaminoborane and aluminium chloride

The acidic reagent formed in situ from anhydrous AlCl(3) and H(2)O in 3:1 ratio is much more efficient for the reductive openings of the cyclic benzylidene acetals with Me(3)N x BH(3) in tetrahydrofurane than the AlCl(3) alone. Under proposed conditions, the dioxane-type 4,6-O-bezylidene acetals of hexopyranosides give regioselectively the corresponding 4-hydroxy,6-O-benzyl derivatives in excellent yields. Reductive openings of the dioxolane-type 3,4-O-benzylidene acetals of galactopyranoside are also very efficient and regioselective and give either 3-O-benzyl derivative (from 3,4-O-exo-benzylidene acetal) or 4-O-benzyl derivative (from 3,4-O-endo-benzylidene acetal) depending on the configuration of the acetal carbon atom.

Interglycosidic acetals. Part 3. Synthesis and structure determination of cyclic monobenzylidene acetals of cyclodextrin derivatives bridging between two contiguous D-glucopyranosyl residues

Transacetalation of fully 6-O-pivaloylated alpha-, beta-, and gamma-cyclodextrins with benzaldehyde dimethylacetal in the presence of (+)-10-camphorsulfonic acid gave monobenzylidene acetals (4, 5, 6) in moderately good yields. Benzylation of the beta-cyclodextrin derivative 5 followed by acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of the benzylidene group and acetylation afforded a di-O-acetyl-non-adeca-O-benzyl derivative 9. NMR spectroscopic analysis of 9, including two-dimensional HOHAHA and 1H-(13)C correlation experiments revealed that the benzylidene group bridged the O-2 and O-3 positions of contiguous D-glucopyranosyl residues. Reductive ring-opening of the benzylidene acetal with lithium aluminum hydride/aluminum chloride afforded predominantly a 2(1)-O-unprotected derivative 10 in good yield.

Chemical behavior of benzylidene acetal groups bridging the contiguous glucose residues in malto-oligosaccharide derivatives

Treatment of phenyl alpha-maltoside with an excess of alpha, alpha-dimethoxytoluene in the presence of (+)-10-camphorsulfonic acid, followed by partial hydrolysis to remove unstable acyclic acetal substituents, gave phenyl 3,2':4',6'-di-O-benzylidene-alpha-maltoside. Thus, one of the benzylidene groups formed an eight-membered cyclic acetal ring bridging the two monosaccharide components. This acetal function was stable under conventional acylation and alkylation conditions, but was selectively hydrolyzed by 80% acetic acid at room temperature. Treatment of a per-O-benzoyl derivative of 1 with N-bromosuccinimide-barium carbonate afforded phenyl 2,6,3', 4'-tetra-O-benzoyl-6'-bromo-6'-deoxy-alpha-maltoside in 80% yield. Reductive ring opening of the tri-O-benzyl derivative of 1 with lithium aluminum hydride-aluminum chloride gave a 2,3,6,3',4'-penta-O-benzyl derivative, while reduction with sodium cyanoborohydride-hydrogen chloride or borane trimethylamine complex-aluminum chloride afforded a 2,3,6,3',6'-penta-O-benzyl derivative in good yield. Similar regioselectivity was observed in the reductive cleavage of a 1,6-anhydro-3',2'':4'',6''-di-O-benzylidene-beta- maltotriose derivative.

Glycosylation using a one-electron-transfer, homogeneous reagent. Application to an efficient synthesis of the trimannosyl core of N-glycosylproteins

Double glycosylation of methyl 2,4-di-O-benzyl-beta-D-mannopyranoside with ethyl 2-O-benzoyl-3,4,6-tri-O-benzyl-1-thio-alpha-D-mannopyranoside using as promoter tris(4-bromophenyl)ammoniumyl hexachloroantimonate, a stable, commercial, and crystalline radical cation, afforded after debenzoylation methyl 2,4-di-O-benzyl-3,6-di-O-(3,4,6-tri-O-benzyl-alpha-D-mannopyranoside in excellent yield. Other mannosyl donors were also investigated.

Synthesis of four structural elements of xylose-containing carbohydrate chains from N-glycoproteins

The synthesis of the oligosaccharides beta-D-Xylp-(1----2)-beta-D-Manp-OMe (12), beta-D-Xylp-(1----2)-[alpha-D-Manp-(1----6)]-beta-D-Manp+ ++-OMe (17), beta-D-Xylp-(1----2)-[alpha-D-Manp-(1----3)]-beta-D-Manp+ ++-OMe (21), and beta-D-Xylp-(1----2)-[alpha-D-Manp-(1----3)] [alpha-D-Manp-(1----6)]-beta-D-Manp-OMe (25) is described. Methyl 3-O-benzyl-4,6-O-isopropylidene-beta-D-mannopyranoside (6) was prepared from the corresponding glucoepimer (4) by oxidation, followed by stereoselective reduction. Condensation of 6 with 2,3,4-tri-O-acetyl-alpha-D-xylopyranosyl bromide in the presence of mercuric cyanide gave a 1:9 mixture of methyl 3-O-benzyl-4,6-O-isopropylidene-2-O-(2,3,4- tri-O-acetyl-alpha- (7a) and -beta-D-xylopyranosyl)-beta-D-mannopyranoside (7), and then 7 was converted into the acetylated disaccharide-glycoside 11. Regioselective mannosylation, with 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-alpha-D-mannopyranosyl bromide, at position 6 of deisopropylidenated 7 (8), using mercuric bromide as a promoter, afforded the trisaccharide-glycoside derivative 13, which was transformed into the acetylated trisaccharide-glycoside 16. The disaccharide derivative 10, obtained from 8, and the trisaccharide derivative 15, obtained from 13, were glycosylated at position 3 with O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-alpha-D-mannopyranosyl)trichloroacetimidate (19), using trimethylsilyl triflate as a promoter, giving rise to acetylated tri- (20) and tetra-saccharide (24) derivatives, respectively. O-Deacetylation of 11, 16, 20, and 24 gave 12, 17, 21, and 25, respectively.