Effective synthesis of nucleosides with glycosyl trifluoroacetimidates as donors

Boronic Acid-Catalyzed Regio- and Stereoselective N-Glycosylations of Purines and Other Azole Heterocycles: Access to Nucleoside Analogues

In the presence of an arylboronic acid catalyst, azole-type heterocycles, including purines, tetrazoles, triazoles, indazoles, and benzo-fused congeners, undergo regio- and stereoselective N-glycosylations with furanosyl and pyranosyl trichloroacetimidate donors. The protocol, which does not require stoichiometric activators, specialized leaving groups, or drying agents, provides access to nucleoside analogues and enables late-stage N-glycosylation of azole-containing pharmaceutical agents. A mechanism involving simultaneous activation of the glycosyl donor and acceptor by the organoboron catalyst has been proposed, supported by kinetic analysis and computational modeling.

Synthesis of Nucleosides and Deoxynucleosides via Gold(I)-Catalyzed N-Glycosylation of Glycosyl (Z)-Ynenoates

Nucleoside analogues are widely used as anticancer and antiviral drugs. Here, we develop a highly efficient gold(I)-catalyzed N-glycosylation approach for versatile synthesis of various types of nucleosides and deoxynucleosides with glycosyl (Z)-ynenoates as donors. The wide scope of the N-glycosylation approach was demonstrated by the synthesis of 31 pyrimidine nucleosides and 8 purine nucleosides. Remarkably, the gold(I)-catalyzed N-glycosylation of pyranosyl (Z)-ynenoates with purines was found to be very effective for regioselective synthesis of pyranosyl N9 purine nucleosides. Based on the catalytic N-glycosylation approach, convenient synthesis of two 5'-deoxynucleosides drugs (capecitabine and galocitabine), four 2'-deoxynucleoside drugs (floxuridine, trifluridine, decitabine and cladribine), four 3',5'-dideoxynucleoside analogues, and four 2',5'-dideoxynucleoside analogues was achieved in a collective manner.

Silane promoted glycosylation and its applications for synthesis of sugar compounds and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs)

Silane promoted glycosylation and its applications for preparation of active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Chemical and chemoenzymatic stereoselective synthesis of β-nucleosides and their analogues

β-Nucleosides are fundamental building blocks of biological systems that are widely used as therapeutic agents for treating cancer and viral infections among others. In the last two years, nucleoside analogues...

NIS/TMSOTf-Promoted Glycosidation of Glycosyl ortho-Hexynylbenzoates for Versatile Synthesis of O-Glycosides and Nucleosides

Glycosidation plays a pivotal role in the synthesis of O-glycosides and nucleosides that mediate a diverse range of biological processes. However, efficient glycosidation approach for the synthesis of both O-glycosides and nucleosides remains challenging in terms of glycosidation yields, mild reaction conditions, readily available glycosyl donors, and cheap promoters. Here, we report a versatile N-iodosuccinimide/trimethylsilyl triflate (NIS/TMSOTf)-promoted glycosidation approach with glycosyl ortho-hexynylbenzoates as donors for the highly efficient synthesis of O-glycosides and nucleosides. The glycosidation approach highlights the merits of mild reaction conditions, cheap promoters, extremely wide substrate scope, and good to excellent yields. Notably, the glycosidation approach performs very well in the construction of a series of challenging O- and N-glycosidic linkages. The glycosidation approach is then applied to the efficient synthesis of oligosaccharides via the one-pot strategy and the stepwise strategy. On the basis of the isolation and characterization of the departure species derived from the leaving group, a plausible mechanism of NIS/TMSOTf-promoted glycosidation of glycosyl ortho-hexynylbenzoates is proposed.

Transglycosylation in the Modification and Isotope Labeling of Pyrimidine Nucleosides

Transglycosylation of pyrimidine nucleosides is demonstrated in a one-pot synthesis of uridine derivatives under microwave irradiation. Inductive activation of 2',3',5'-tri-O-acetyl uridine with a 5-nitro group produces a more-reactive glycosyl donor. Under optimized Vorbrüggen conditions, the 5-nitrouridine facilitates a reversible nucleobase exchange with a series of 5-substituted uracils. The protocol is also exemplified in a gram-scale reaction under thermal heating. The strategy provides easy access to isotopically labeled uridine.

Glycosyl ortho-(1-phenylvinyl)benzoates versatile glycosyl donors for highly efficient synthesis of both O-glycosides and nucleosides

Both of O-glycosides and nucleosides are important biomolecules with crucial rules in numerous biological processes. Chemical synthesis is an efficient and scalable method to produce well-defined and pure carbohydrate-containing molecules for deciphering their functions and developing therapeutic agents. However, the development of glycosylation methods for efficient synthesis of both O-glycosides and nucleosides is one of the long-standing challenges in chemistry. Here, we report a highly efficient and versatile glycosylation method for efficient synthesis of both O-glycosides and nucleosides, which uses glycosyl ortho-(1-phenylvinyl)benzoates as donors. This glycosylation protocol enjoys the various features, including readily prepared and stable donors, cheap and readily available promoters, mild reaction conditions, good to excellent yields, and broad substrate scopes. In particular, the applications of the current glycosylation protocol are demonstrated by one-pot synthesis of several bioactive oligosaccharides and highly efficient synthesis of nucleosides drugs capecitabine, galocitabine and doxifluridine.

Anomeric Spironucleosides of β-d-Glucopyranosyl Uracil as Potential Inhibitors of Glycogen Phosphorylase

In the case of type 2 diabetes, inhibitors of glycogen phosphorylase (GP) may prevent unwanted glycogenolysis under high glucose conditions and thus aim at the reduction of excessive glucose production by the liver. Anomeric spironucleosides, such as hydantocidin, present a rich synthetic chemistry and important biological function (e.g., inhibition of GP). For this study, the Suárez radical methodology was successfully applied to synthesize the first example of a 1,6-dioxa-4-azaspiro[4.5]decane system, not previously constructed via a radical pathway, starting from 6-hydroxymethyl-β-d-glucopyranosyluracil. It was shown that, in the rigid pyranosyl conformation, the required [1,5]-radical translocation was a minor process. The stereochemistry of the spirocycles obtained was unequivocally determined based on the chemical shifts of key sugar protons in the 1H-NMR spectra. The two spirocycles were found to be modest inhibitors of RMGPb.

Effective Synthesis of Nucleosides Utilizing O-Acetyl-Glycosyl Chlorides as Glycosyl Donors in the Absence of Catalyst: Mechanism Revision and Application to Silyl-Hilbert-Johnson Reaction

An effective synthesis of nucleosides using glycosyl chlorides as glycosyl donors in the absence of Lewis acid has been developed. Glycosyl chlorides have been shown to be pivotal intermediates in the classical silyl-Hilbert-Johnson reaction. A possible mechanism that differs from the currently accepted mechanism advanced by Vorbrueggen has been proposed and verified by experiments. In practice, this catalyst-free method provides easy access to Capecitabine in high yield.

A general method for N-glycosylation of nucleobases promoted by (p-Tol)2SO/Tf2O with thioglycoside as donor

35 nucleosides were synthesized by coupling thioglycosides with pyrimidines and purines under the preactivation of (p-Tol)₂SO/Tf₂O in high yields and with β-stereoselectivities.

Genetics first or metabolism first? The formamide clue

Life is made of the intimate interaction of metabolism and genetics, both built around the chemistry of the most common elements of the Universe (hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon). The transmissible interaction of metabolic and genetic cycles results in the hypercycles of organization and de-organization of chemical information, of living and non-living. The origin-of-life quest has long been split into several attitudes exemplified by the aphorisms "genetics-first" or "metabolism-first". Recently, the opposition between these approaches has been solved by more unitary theoretical and experimental frames taking into account energetic, evolutionary, proto-metabolic and environmental aspects. Nevertheless, a unitary and simple chemical frame is still needed that could afford both the precursors of the synthetic pathways eventually leading to RNA and to the key components of the central metabolic cycles, possibly connected with the synthesis of fatty acids. In order to approach the problem of the origin of life it is therefore reasonable to start from the assumption that both metabolism and genetics had a common origin, shared a common chemical frame, and were embedded under physical-chemical conditions favourable for the onset of both. The singleness of such a prebiotically productive chemical process would partake of Darwinian advantages over more complex fragmentary chemical systems. The prebiotic chemistry of formamide affords in a single and simple physical-chemical frame nucleic bases, acyclonucleosides, nucleotides, biogenic carboxylic acids, sugars, amino sugars, amino acids and condensing agents. Thus, we suggest the possibility that formamide could have jointly provided the main components for the onset of both (pre)genetic and (pre)metabolic processes. As a note of caution, we discuss the fact that these observations only indicate possible solutions at the level of organic substrates, not at the systemic chemical level.