Synthesis of arabinofuranosides via low-temperature activation of thioglycosides

Transition-Metal-Mediated Glycosylation with Thioglycosides

Thioglycosides are among the most common glycosyl donors that find broad application in the synthesis of glycans and glycoconjugates. However, the requirement for toxic and/or large access of activators needed for common glycosylations with thioglycosides remains a notable drawback. Due to the increased awareness of the chemical waste impact on the environment, synthetic studies have been driven by the goal of finding non-toxic reagents. The main focus of this review is to highlight recent methods for thioglycoside activation that rely on transition metal catalysis.

Arabinosylation Modulates the Growth-Regulating Activity of the Peptide Hormone CLE40a from Soybean

Small post-translationally modified peptide hormones mediate crucial developmental and regulatory processes in plants. CLAVATA/ENDOSPERM-SURROUNDING REGION (CLE) genes are found throughout the plant kingdom and encode for 12-13 amino acid peptides that must often undergo post-translational proline hydroxylation and glycosylation with O-β1,2-triarabinose moieties before they become functional. Apart from a few recent examples, a detailed understanding of the structure and function of most CLE hormones is yet to be uncovered. This is mainly owing to difficulties in isolating mature homogeneously modified CLE peptides from natural plant sources. In this study, we describe the efficient synthesis of a synthetic Araf3Hyp glycosylamino acid building block that was used to access a hitherto uninvestigated CLE hormone from soybean called GmCLE40a. Through the development and implementation of a novel in vivo root growth assay, we show that the synthetic triarabinosylated glycopeptide suppresses primary root growth in this important crop species.

Practical Glucosylations and Mannosylations Using Anomeric Benzoyloxy as a Leaving Group Activated by Sulfonium Ion

One obstacle for practical glycosylations is the high cost of promoters and low-temperature equipment. This problem has been at least partially solved by using MeSCH₂Cl/KI as a low-cost promoter system. MeSCH₂Cl has an estimated cost of <$1/mol compared with $1741/mol for AgOTf and $633/mol for TMSOTf. This new promoter system is capable of activating various leaving groups including anomeric Cl, F, trichloroacetimidate, and acyloxy groups. Stable and easy-to-prepare anomeric benzoloxy carbohydrate donors were investigated in the glycosylations of carbohydrates, aliphatic alcohols, amino acids, steroids, and nucleoside acceptors. Most of these glycosylations were operationally simple with fast reaction rates and moderate yields of 35-79%. In addition, direct glycosylations of nucleosides using less than 2 equiv of anomeric benzoloxy donors and high stereoselective mannosylation have been achieved. From an economic point of view, this glycosylation method should be highly applicable to industrial processes.

Twenty Years of Mycobacterial Glycans: Furanosides and Beyond

The cell surface (or cell wall) of bacteria is coated with carbohydrate (or glycan) structures that play a number of important roles. These include providing structural integrity, serving as a permeability barrier to extracellular compounds (e.g., drugs) and modulating the immune system of the host. Of interest to this Account is the cell wall structure of mycobacteria. There are a host of different mycobacterial species, some of which cause human disease. The most well-known is Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis. The mycobacterial cell wall is characterized by the presence of unusual carbohydrate structures that fulfill the roles described above. However, in many cases, a molecular-level understanding of how mycobacterial cell wall glycans mediate these processes is lacking.

Inspired by a seminar he heard as a postdoctoral fellow, the author began his independent research program with a focus on the chemical synthesis of mycobacterial glycans. The goals were not only to develop synthetic approaches to these unique structures but also to provide molecules that could be used to probe their biological function. Initial work addressed the preparation of fragments of two key polysaccharides, arabinogalactan and lipoarabinomannan, which contain large numbers of sugar residues in the furanose (five-membered) ring form. At the time these investigations began, there were few methods reported for the synthesis of oligosaccharides containing furanose rings. Thus, early in the program, a major area of interest was methodology development, particularly for the preparation of 1,2-cis-furanosides. To solve this challenge, a range of conformationally restricted donors have been developed, both in the author’s group and others, which provide 1,2-cis-furanosidic linkages with high stereoselectivity.

These investigations were followed by application of the developed methods to the synthesis of a range of target molecules containing arabinofuranose and galactofuranose residues. These molecules have now found application in biochemical, immunological, and structural biology investigations, which have shed light on their biosynthesis and how these motifs are recognized by both the innate and adaptive immune systems.

More recently, attention has been directed toward the synthesis of another class of immunologically active mycobacterial cell wall glycans, the extractable glycolipids. In this case, efforts have been primarily on phenolic glycolipids, and the compounds synthesized have been used to evaluate their ability to modulate cytokine release. Over the past 20 years, the use of chemical synthesis to provide increasingly complex glycan structures has provided significant benefit to the burgeoning field of mycobacterial glycobiology. Through the efforts of groups from around the globe, access to these compounds is now possible via relatively straightforward methods. As the pool of mycobacterial glycans continues to grow, so too will our understanding of their role in disease, which will undoubtedly lead to new strategies to prevent or treat mycobacterial infections.

In(III) triflate-mediated solvent-free synthesis and activation of thioglycosides by ball milling and structural analysis of long chain alkyl thioglycosides by TEM and quantum chemical methods

Conventional solution-phase synthesis of thioglycosides from glycosyl acetates and thiols in the presence of In(III) triflate as reported for benzyl thioglucoside failed when applied to the synthesis of phenolic and alkyl thioglycosides. But, it was achieved in high efficiency and diastereospecificity with ease by solvent-free grinding in a ball mill. The acetates in turn were also obtained by the homogenization of free sugars with stoichiometric amounts of acetic anhydride and catalytic In(OTf)3 in the mill as neat products. Per-O-benzylated thioglycosides on grinding with an acceptor sugar in the presence of In(OTf)3 yield the corresponding O-glycosides efficiently. The latter in the case of a difficult secondary alcohol was nearly exclusive (>98%) in 1,2-cis-selectivity. In contrast, the conventional methods for this purpose require use of a coreagent such as NIS along with the Lewis acid to help generate the electrophilic species that actually is responsible for the activation of the thioglycoside donor in situ. The distinctly different self-assembling features of the peracetylated octadecyl 1-thio-α- and β-D-galactopyranosides observed by TEM could be rationalized by molecular modeling.

Tuning effect of silyl protecting groups on the glycosylation reactivity of arabinofuranosyl thioglycosides

The tuning effect of silyl protecting groups on the glycosylation reactivity of arabinofuranosyl phenyl thioglycoside donors is presented. Silyl ethers on the 3-, 5-, and 3,5-positions of the arabinofuranose ring are found to have an arming effect on the donor reactivity, whereas the cyclic 3,5-acetal type protecting groups reduce the reactivity.

Studies related to Norway spruce galactoglucomannans: chemical synthesis, conformation analysis, NMR spectroscopic characterization, and molecular recognition of model compounds

Galactoglucomannan (GGM) is a polysaccharide mainly consisting of mannose, glucose, and galactose. GGM is the most abundant hemicellulose in the Norway spruce (Picea abies), but is also found in the cell wall of flax seeds, tobacco plants, and kiwifruit. Although several applications for GGM polysaccharides have been developed in pulp and paper manufacturing and the food and medical industries, attempts to synthesize and study distinct fragments of this polysaccharide have not been reported previously. Herein, the synthesis of one of the core trisaccharide units of GGM together with a less-abundant tetrasaccharide fragment is described. In addition, detailed NMR spectroscopic characterization of the model compounds, comparison of the spectral data with natural GGM, investigation of the acetyl-group migration phenomena that takes place in the polysaccharide by using small model compounds, and a binding study between the tetrasaccharide model fragment and a galactose-binding protein (the toxin viscumin) are reported.

Synthesis of beta-D-arabinofuranosides: stereochemical differentiation between D- and L-enantiomers

The glycosylation of 3,5-O-di-tert-butylsilylene-protected d-thioarabinofuranosides with a range of glycosyl acceptors using NIS/AgOTf as promoters proceeded in a stereoselective manner to give the corresponding beta-D-arabinofuranosides in high yields.

On the use of 3,5-O-benzylidene and 3,5-O-(di-tert-butylsilylene)-2-O-benzylarabinothiofuranosides and their sulfoxides as glycosyl donors for the synthesis of beta-arabinofuranosides: importance of the activation method

A 2-O-benzyl-3,5-O-benzylidene-alpha-d-thioarabinofuranoside was obtained by reaction of the corresponding diol with alpha,alpha-dibromotoluene under basic conditions. On activation with 1-benzenesulfinyl piperidine, or diphenyl sulfoxide, and trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydride in dichloromethane at -55 degrees C, reaction with glycosyl acceptors affords anomeric mixtures with little or no selectivity. The analogous 2-O-benzyl-3,5-O-(di-tert-butylsilylene)-alpha-d-thioarabinofuranoside also showed no significant selectivity under the 1-benzenesulfinyl piperidine or diphenyl sulfoxide conditions. With N-iodosuccinimide and silver trifluoromethanesulfonate the silylene acetal showed moderate to high beta-selectivity, independent of the configuration of the starting thioglycoside. High beta-selectivity was also obtained with a 2-O-benzyl-3,5-O-(di-tert-butylsilylene)-alpha-arabinofuranosyl sulfoxide donor on activation with trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydride. The high beta-selectivities obtained by the N-iodosuccinimide/silver trifluoromethanesulfonate and sulfoxide methods are consistent with a common intermediate, most likely to be the oxacarbenium ion. The poor selectivity observed on activation of the thioglycosides with the 1-benzenesulfinyl piperidine, or diphenyl sulfoxide, and trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydride methods appears to be the result of the formation of a complex mixture of glycosyl donors, as determined by low-temperature NMR work.

Analogues of the mycobacterial arabinogalactan linkage disaccharide as cell wall biosynthesis inhibitors

The mycobacterial arabinogalactan linkage disaccharide [alpha-L-Rha-(1-->3)-alpha-D-GlcNAc] provides a basis for the design of new antitubercular drugs, since it supports a key skeletal structure in the bacterial cell wall. A series of analogues of the linker was synthesized by coupling appropriate thiorhamnosyl donors modified at their 4-positions, with an N-acetyl glucosamine acceptor. In a cell-free enzyme inhibition assay, three analogues inhibited the activity of the galactosyltransferase that adds a Galf residue to the linkage disaccharide. Although the compounds were modest inhibitors, these data confirm the viability of this approach to anti-mycobacterial agents. It is especially significant that the three effective compounds are modified at the site of the acceptor atom in the natural substrate.

2,3-Anhydro sugars in glycoside bond synthesis. Highly stereoselective syntheses of oligosaccharides containing alpha- and beta-arabinofuranosyl linkages

The ever-increasing discovery of biologically important events mediated by carbohydrates has generated great interest in the synthesis of oligosaccharides and the development of new methods for glycosidic bond formation. In this paper, we report that 2,3-anhydrofuranose thioglycosides (1, 5) and glycosyl sulfoxides (2, 6), in which the hydroxyl groups C-2 and C-3 are "protected" as an epoxide, glycosylate alcohols with an exceptionally high degree of stereocontrol. The predominant or exclusive product of reactions with this fundamentally new class of glycosylating agent is that in which the newly formed glycosidic bond is cis to the epoxide moiety. We further demonstrate that subsequent nucleophilic opening of the epoxide moiety proceeds under basic conditions to give products in high yield and with good to excellent regioselectivity. The major ring-opened products possess the arabino stereochemistry, and thus this methodology constitutes a new approach for the synthesis of arabinofuranosides. In the epoxide opening reactions of glycosides with the 2,3-anhydro-beta-D-lyxo stereochemistry (e.g., 73), the addition of (-)-sparteine (78) to the reaction mixture dramatically enhanced the regioselectivity in favor of the arabino product. This represents the first example of the use of 78 to influence the regioselectivity of an epoxide ring opening reaction with a non-carbon nucleophile. We have demonstrated the utility of this methodology through the efficient synthesis of an arabinofuranosyl hexasaccharide, 7, which is a key structural motif in two mycobacterial cell wall polysaccharides.