An efficient synthesis of GDP-hexanolamine, a key tool for the purification of fucosyltransferases

Potent ligands for prokaryotic UDP-galactopyranose mutase that exploit an enzyme subsite

UDP-galactopyranose mutase (UGM or Glf), which catalyzes the interconversion of UDP-galactopyranose and UDP-galactofuranose, is implicated in the viability and virulence of multiple pathogenic microorganisms. Here we report the synthesis of high-affinity ligands for UGM homologues from Klebsiella pneumoniae and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The potency of these compounds stems from their ability to access both the substrate binding pocket and an adjacent site.

Stereospecific synthesis of sugar-1-phosphates and their conversion to sugar nucleotides

As Leloir glycosyltransferases are increasingly being used to prepare oligosaccharides, glycoconjugates, and glycosylated natural products, efficient access to stereopure sugar nucleotide donor substrates is required. Herein, the rapid synthesis and purification of eight sugar nucleotides is described by a facile 30 min activation of nucleoside 5'-monophosphates bearing purine and pyrimidine bases with trifluoroacetic anhydride and N-methylimidazole, followed by a 2 h coupling with stereospecifically prepared sugar-1-phosphates. Tributylammonium bicarbonate and tributylammonium acetate were the ion-pair reagents of choice for the C18 reversed-phase purification of 6-deoxysugar nucleotides, and hexose or pentose-derived sugar nucleotides, respectively.