The thiocyanate route to derivatives of 3-thio-d-glucose and 3-thio-d-allose

Stereoselective Synthesis of Carbon-Sulfur-Bridged Glycomimetics by Photoinitiated Thiol-Ene Coupling Reactions

Oligosaccharides and glycoconjugates are abundant in all living organisms, taking part in a multitude of biological processes. The application of natural O-glycosides in biological studies and drug development is limited by their sensitivity to enzymatic hydrolysis. This issue made it necessary to design hydrolytically stable carbohydrate mimetics, where sulfur, carbon, or longer interglycosidic connections comprising two or three atoms replace the glycosidic oxygen. However, the formation of the interglycosidic linkages between the sugar residues in high diastereoslectivity poses a major challenge. Here, we report on stereoselective synthesis of carbon-sulfur-bridged disaccharide mimetics by the free radical addition of carbohydrate thiols onto the exo-cyclic double bond of unsaturated sugars. A systematic study on UV-light initiated radical mediated hydrothiolation reactions of enoses bearing an exocyclic double bond at C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, and C6 positions of the pyranosyl ring with various sugar thiols was performed. The effect of temperature and structural variations of the alkenes and thiols on the efficacy and stereoselectivity of the reactions was systematically studied and optimized. The reactions proceeded with high efficacy and, in most cases, with complete diastereoselectivity producing a broad array of disaccharide mimetics coupling through an equatorially oriented methylensulfide bridge.

Sucrose analogues modified at position 3: chemoenzymatic synthesis and inhibition studies of dextransucrases

Conditions for the large-scale (molar) oxidation of sucrose by Agrobacterium tumefaciens were improved, thus leading to homogeneous solutions of 3-ketosucrose in 40% yield. Treatment of this solution with hydroxylamine or methoxylamine afforded the corresponding oximes 3a and 3b (isolated as acetates) in excellent yield. Dissolving-metal reduction of these oximes gave mixtures of amino disaccharides in which the gluco epimer (3-amino-3-deoxysucrose) was predominant. A more efficient approach to this amino sucrose was provided by the highly stereoselective hydrogenation of 3-ketosucrose peracetate (7), which gave exclusively the allo isomer 8 (2,4,6-tri-O-acetyl-alpha-D-allopyranosyl 1,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-beta-D-fructofuranoside). Upon reaction with lithium azide, the triflate derived from 8, compound 9, afforded 3-azido-3-deoxysucrose peracetate (10) which was converted into 3-amino-3-deoxysucrose (12). The reaction of triflate 9 with potassium ethylxanthate led to a mixture of products (the expected 3-S-ethoxythiocarbonyl-3-thiosucrose derivative and the peracetates of 3-thiosucrose and of 3-thiosucrose disulfide), which could be all converted into 3-thiosucrose (17). Sucrose analogues 12 and 17 were not substrates of dextransucrases from various strains of L. mesenteroides, nor did they participate in glycosyl transfer reactions to an acceptor (maltose). Compounds 3a and 12 were found to be strong competitive inhibitors of the dextran synthesis process (dextransucrase from strain B-1397). These results indicate that 3a and 12 compete effectively with sucrose for the sucrose binding site but are unable to participate as glycosyl donors in the polymerization or glycosyl-transfer processes.