Synthesis of deoxy and methoxy analogs of octyl alpha-D-mannopyranosyl-(1-->6)-alpha-D-mannopyranoside as probes for mycobacterial lipoarabinomannan biosynthesis

Regioselective O-Glycosylation of Nucleosides via the Temporary 2',3'-Diol Protection by a Boronic Ester for the Synthesis of Disaccharide Nucleosides

Disaccharide nucleosides, which consist of disaccharide and nucleobase moieties, have been known as a valuable group of natural products having multifarious bioactivities. Although chemical O-glycosylation is a commonly beneficial strategy to synthesize disaccharide nucleosides, the preparation of substrates such as glycosyl donors and acceptors requires tedious protecting group manipulations and a purification at each synthetic step. Meanwhile, several research groups have reported that boronic and borinic esters serve as a protecting or activating group of carbohydrate derivatives to achieve the regio- and/or stereoselective acylation, alkylation, silylation, and glycosylation. In this article, we demonstrate the procedure for the regioselective O-glycosylation of unprotected ribonucleosides utilizing boronic acid. The esterification of 2',3'-diol of ribonucleosides with boronic acid makes the temporary protection of diol, and, following O-glycosylation with a glycosyl donor in the presence of p-toluenesulfenyl chloride and silver triflate, permits the regioselective reaction of the 5'-hydroxyl group to afford the disaccharide nucleosides. This method could be applied to various nucleosides, such as guanosine, adenosine, cytidine, uridine, 5-metyluridine, and 5-fluorouridine. This article and the accompanying video represent useful (visual) information for the O-glycosylation of unprotected nucleosides and their analogs for the synthesis of not only disaccharide nucleosides, but also a variety of biologically relevant derivatives.

Synthesis of Disaccharide Nucleosides Utilizing the Temporary Protection of the 2',3'-cis-Diol of Ribonucleosides by a Boronic Ester

Disaccharide nucleosides are an important class of natural compounds that have a variety of biological activities. In this study, we report on the synthesis of disaccharide nucleosides utilizing the temporary protection of the 2',3'-cis-diol of ribonucleosides, such as adenosine, guanosine, uridine, 5-metyluridine, 5-fluorouridine and cytidine, by a boronic ester. The temporary protection of the above ribonucleosides permits the regioselective O-glycosylation of the 5'-hydroxyl group with thioglycosides using a p-toluenesulfenyl chloride (p-TolSCl)/silver triflate (AgOTf) promoter system to afford the corresponding disaccharide nucleosides in fairly good chemical yields. The formation of a boronic ester prepared from uridine and 4-(trifluoromethyl)phenylboronic acid was examined by ¹H, 11B and 19F NMR spectroscopy.

Synthesis of a tristearoyl lipomannan via preactivation-based iterative one-pot glycosylation

A convergent and efficient strategy was developed for the synthesis of lipomannan (LM), useful for vaccine development. Thioglycosides were employed as glycosyl donors to construct two key pseudotrisaccharide and tetramannose intermediates through preactivation-based glycosylation strategy. These building blocks were then successfully coupled to form the LM core, which was lapidated, phospholipidated, and finally globally deprotected to afford the target molecule. The intermediate LM core involved in this synthesis contained orthogonal protections, which would facilitate its variable modifications for the preparation of other complex LM derivatives and for the synthesis of LM conjugates as LM-based vaccines.

Regioselective polymethylation of α-(1 → 4)-linked mannopyranose oligosaccharides

An approach has been developed of the regioselective methylation of α-(1 → 4)-linked mannopyranose oligosaccharides via a four-step methodology. The key reaction involved n-Bu2SnCl2-mediated activation of cis-diols. By tuning protecting groups on the substrates, multiple cis-diols in the substrates were functionalized in a consistent and regioselective manner. Using optimized substrates and reaction conditions, regioselective methylation of di-, tri-, and tetrasaccharide substrates proceeded in isolated yields per cis-diol of 95, 88 and 79%, respectively. The methodology was also applied to functionalize trans-diols in α-cyclodextrin.

Studies on the substrate specificity of a GDP-mannose pyrophosphorylase from Salmonella enterica

A series of methoxy and deoxy derivatives of mannopyranose-1-phosphate (Manp-1P) were chemically synthesized, and their ability to be converted into the corresponding guanosine diphosphate mannopyranose (GDP-Manp) analogues by a pyrophosphorylase (GDP-ManPP) from Salmonella enterica was studied. Evaluation of methoxy analogues demonstrated that GDP-ManPP is intolerant of bulky substituents at the C-2, C-3, and C-4 positions, in turn suggesting that these positions are buried inside the enzyme active site. Additionally, both the 6-methoxy and 6-deoxy Manp-1P derivatives are good or moderate substrates for GDP-ManPP, thus indicating that the C-6 hydroxy group of the Manp-1P substrate is not required for binding to the enzyme. When taken into consideration with other previously published work, it appears that this enzyme has potential utility for the chemoenzymatic synthesis of GDP-Manp analogues, which are useful probes for studying enzymes that employ this sugar nucleotide as a substrate.

Synthesis of glycoconjugate fragments of mycobacterial phosphatidylinositol mannosides and lipomannan

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causitive agent of tuberculosis (TB), possesses a complex cell wall containing mannose-rich glycophospholids termed phosphatidylinositol mannosides (PIMs), lipomannan (LM), and lipoarabinomannan (LAM). These glycophospholipids play important roles in cell wall function and host–pathogen interactions. Synthetic PIM/LM/LAM substructures are useful biochemical tools to delineate and dissect the fine details of mannose glycophospholipid biosynthesis and their interactions with host cells. We report the efficient synthesis of a series of azidooctyl di- and trimannosides possessing the following glycan structures: α-Man-1,6-α-Man, α-Man-1,6-α-Man-1,6-α-Man, α-Man-1,2-α-Man-1,6-α-Man and 2,6-di-(α-Man)-α-Man. The synthesis includes the use of non-benzyl protecting groups compatible with the azido group and preparation of the branched trisaccharide structure 2,6-di-(α-Man)-α-Man through a double glycosylation of a 3,4-butanediacetal-protected mannoside. The azidooctyl groups of these synthetic mannans were elaborated to fluorescent glycoconjugates and squaric ester derivatives useful for further conjugation studies.

Modular approach to triazole-linked 1,6-α-D-oligomannosides to the discovery of inhibitors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis cell wall synthetase

Aiming at developing inhibitors of mannosyltransferases, the enzymes that participate in the biosynthesis of the cell envelope of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the synthesis of a range of designed triazole-linked 1,6-oligomannosides up to a hexadecamer has been accomplished by a modular approach centered on the Cu(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition as key process. The efficiency and fidelity of the cycloaddition are substantiated by high yields (76-96%) and exclusive formation of the expected 1,4-disubstituted triazole ring in all oligomer assembling reactions. Key features of oligomers thus prepared are the anomeric carbon-carbon bond of all mannoside residues and the 6-deoxymannoside capping residue. Suitable bioassays with dimer, tetramer, hexamer, octamer, decamer, and hexadecamer showed variable inhibitor activity against mycobacterial α-(1,6)-mannosyltransferases, the highest activity (IC(50) = 0.14-0.22 mM) being registered with the hexamannoside and octamannoside.

Epimeric and amino disaccharide analogs as probes of an alpha-(1-->6)-mannosyltransferase involved in mycobacterial lipoarabinomannan biosynthesis

Mycobacterial lipoarabinomannan (LAM) is an important, immunologically active glycan found in the cell wall of mycobacteria, including the human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis. At the core of LAM is a mannan domain comprised of alpha-(1-->6)-linked-mannopyranose (Manp) residues. Previously, we and others have demonstrated that alpha-Manp-(1-->6)-alpha-Manp disaccharides (e.g., Manp-(1-->6)-alpha-ManpOctyl, ) are the minimum acceptor substrates for enzymes involved in the assembly of the LAM mannan core. We report here the synthesis five epimeric and three amino analogs of , and their subsequent biochemical evaluation against an alpha-(1-->6)-ManT activity present in a membrane preparation from M. smegmatis. Changing the manno- configuration of either residue of to talo- or gluco- led to a reduction or loss of activity, thus confirming earlier work showing that the C-2 and C-4 hydroxyl groups of each monosaccharide were important for enzymatic recognition. Characterization of the products formed from these analogs was done using a combination of mass spectrometry and glycosidase digestion, and full substrate kinetics were also performed. The analogs in which the acceptor hydroxyl group had been replaced with an amino group were, as expected, not substrates for the enzyme, but were weak inhibitors.