High throughput screening of O-glycosylation conditions

Bimodal Glycosyl Donors as an Emerging Approach Towards a General Glycosylation Strategy

Organic synthesis provides an accessible route to preparative scale biological glycans, although schemes to access these complex structures are often complicated by preparation of multiple monosaccharide building blocks. Bimodal glycosyl donors capable of forming both α- and β-anomers selectively, are an emerging tactic to reduce the required number of individual synthetic components in glycan construction. This review discusses examples of bimodal donors in the literature, and how they achieve their stereocontrol for both anomers. Notable examples include a bespoke O-2 benzyl protecting group, a strained glycal for reaction using organometallic catalysis, and a simple perbenzylated donor optimised for stereoselective glycosylation through extensive reaction tuning.

Recent Progress in 1,2-cis glycosylation for Glucan Synthesis

Controlling the stereoselectivity of 1,2-cis glycosylation is one of the most challenging tasks in the chemical synthesis of glycans. There are various 1,2-cis glycosides in nature, such as α-glucoside and β-mannoside in glycoproteins, glycolipids, proteoglycans, microbial polysaccharides, and bioactive natural products. In the structure of polysaccharides such as α-glucan, 1,2-cis α-glucosides were found to be the major linkage between the glucopyranosides. Various regioisomeric linkages, 1→3, 1→4, and 1→6 for the backbone structure, and 1→2/3/4/6 for branching in the polysaccharide as well as in the oligosaccharides were identified. To achieve highly stereoselective 1,2-cis glycosylation, including α-glucosylation, a number of strategies using inter- and intra-molecular methodologies have been explored. Recently, Zn salt-mediated cis glycosylation has been developed and applied to the synthesis of various 1,2-cis linkages, such as α-glucoside and β-mannoside, via the 1,2-cis glycosylation pathway and β-galactoside 1,4/6-cis induction. Furthermore, the synthesis of various structures of α-glucans has been achieved using the recent progressive stereoselective 1,2-cis glycosylation reactions. In this review, recent advances in stereoselective 1,2-cis glycosylation, particularly focused on α-glucosylation, and their applications in the construction of linear and branched α-glucans are summarized.

Controlling the stereoselectivity of glycosylation via solvent effects

This review covers a special topic in carbohydrate chemistry — solvent effects on the stereoselectivity of glycosylation reactions. Obtaining highly stereoselective glycosidic linkages is one of the most challenging tasks in organic synthesis, as it is affected by various controlling factors. One of the least understood factors is the effect of solvents. We have described the known solvent effects while providing both general rules and specific examples. We hope this review will not only help fellow researchers understand the known aspects of solvent effects and use that in their experiments, but moreover, we expect that more studies on this topic will be started and continued to expand our understanding of the mechanistic aspects of solvent effects in glycosylation reactions.

1,2-cis Alkyl glycosides: straightforward glycosylation from unprotected 1-thioglycosyl donors

A 1,2-cis-alkyl glycosidation protocol that makes use of unprotected phenyl 1-thioglycosyl donors is reported. Glycosylation of various functionalized alcohols was accomplished in moderate to high yield and selectivity to give the 1,2-cis-glycosides. In order to quickly develop optimum glycosylation conditions, an FIA (flow injection analysis)-ESI-TOF-MS method was developed that enabled rapid and quantitative evaluation of yield on small scale. This methodology, coupled with NMR spectroscopy, allowed for rapid evaluation of the overall reactions.

Silyl-assisted 1,2-cis-α-glucosylation for the synthesis of a triglucoside moiety in high-mannose-type oligosaccharides

We developed a new 1,2-cis-α-glucosylation reaction, mediated by enhancing the α-favoured transition state via an electron-donating form the TBS group.

Synthesis of docosasaccharide arabinan motif of mycobacterial cell wall

Mycobacterial arabinan is a common constituent of both arabinogalactan (AG) and lipoarabinomannan (LAM). In this study, synthesis of β-Araf containing common arabinan docosasaccharide motif (22 Araf monomer units) of mycobacterial cell wall was achieved. Our synthetic strategy toward arabinan involves (1) the stereoselective β-arabinofuranosylation using both 3,5-O-TIPDS-protected and NAP-protected arabinofuranosyl donors for straightforward intermolecular glycosylation and intramolecular aglycon delivery (IAD), respectively, and (2) the convergent fragment coupling with branched fragments at the linear sequence using thioglycoside donor obtained from the corresponding acetonide at the reducing terminal of each fragment through a three-step procedure. Because the acetonide at the reducing terminal of all fragments would be converted to thioglycoside as the glycosyl donor, and mainly Bn ether protections were used, our strategy will be readily applicable to the synthesis of more complex arabinan, arabinogalactan, and arabinomycolate derived from mycobacterial CWS.

Microgram-scale testing of reaction conditions in solution using nanoliter plugs in microfluidics with detection by MALDI-MS

This paper describes a microfluidic system to screen and optimize organic reaction conditions on a submicrogram scale. The system uses discrete droplets (plugs) as microreactors separated and transported by a continuous phase of a fluorinated carrier fluid. Previously, we demonstrated the use of a microfabricated PDMS plug-based microfluidic system to perform assays and crystallization experiments in aqueous solutions with optical detection. Here, we developed an approach that does not require microfabrication of microfluidic devices, is applicable to synthetic reactions in organic solvents, and uses detection by MALDI-MS. As a demonstration, conditions for selective deacetylation of ouabain hexaacetate were tested, and the optimum conditions for mono-, bis-, or trisdeacetylation have been identified. These conditions were validated by scale-up reactions and isolating these potentially neurotoxic products. Mono- and bisdeacetylated products are unstable intermediates in the deacetylation and were isolated for the first time. This system enables no-loss handling of submicroliter volumes containing a few micrograms of a compound of interest. It could become valuable for investigating or optimizing reactions of precious substrates (e.g., products of long synthetic sequences and natural products that can be isolated only in small quantities).