A new approach to the synthesis of lysophosphatidylcholines and related derivatives

Scalable Synthesis and Purification of Acetylated Phosphatidyl Choline Headgroup

The acetylated headgroup of the most abundant mammalian phospholipid, 1,2-diacetyl-3-sn-phosphatidyl choline (DAcPC), has several important applications in research. For instance, it can be dissolved in the same amount of water as in the fluid PC bilayer, to create a surrogate of a PC headgroup stratum, for studying solvation of small molecules and the influence of their structure on the process. In contrast to PC derivatives with longer acyl chains, DAcPC does not self-aggregate, rendering the aqueous solution homogeneous and suitable for simplified analyses of interactions of molecules with the headgroups. Several studies have been published where DAcPC was used in a crudely purified form. Here we describe a one-step preparation of DAcPC from commercially available bulk chemicals and purification of the product by crystallization and washing. The process gives a good yield and is easily scalable. The availability of enantiopure, crystalline DAcPC could open the door to more extensive biochemical, pharmacological, and nutritional studies of this interesting chemical.

Efficient tin-mediated synthesis of lysophospholipid conjugates of a TLR7/8-active imidazoquinoline

The chemical synthesis of lysophospholipids often involves multiple synthetic and chromatographic steps due to the incorporation of the fatty acyl group onto the glycerol scaffold early in the synthesis. We report herein a new protocol for the lysophosphatidylation of alcohols and its application to the synthesis of lysophospholipid conjugates of TLR7/8-active imidazoquinoline 3. This new procedure, which is based on the tin-mediated regioselective acylation of late-stage phosphoglycerol intermediate 17, overcomes many of the drawbacks of conventional lysophosphatidylation methods and allows introduction of different fatty acyl groups in the penultimate step.

Synthesis of mixed-chain phosphatidylcholines including coumarin fluorophores for FRET-based kinetic studies of phospholipase A(2) enzymes

Phospholipase A2 (PLA2) enzymes catalyze the hydrolysis of the sn-2 ester linkage of glycerophospholipids to produce fatty acids and lysophospholipids. A significant number of mammalian phospholipases comprise a family of secreted PLA2 enzymes, found in specific tissues and cellular locations, exhibiting unique enzymatic properties and distinct biological functions. Development of new real-time spectrofluorimetric PLA2 assays should facilitate the kinetic characterization and mechanistic elucidation of the isozymes in vitro, with the potential applicability to detect and measure catalytic PLA2 activity in tissues and cellular locations. Here we report a new synthesis of double-labeled phosphatidylcholine analogs with chain-terminal reporter groups including coumarin fluorophores for fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based kinetic studies of PLA2 enzymes. The use of coumarin derivatives as fluorescent labels provides reporter groups with substantially decreased size compared to the first generation of donor-acceptor pairs of fluorescent phospholipids. The key advantage of the design is to interfere less with the physicochemical properties of the acyl chains, thereby improving the substrate quality of the synthetic probes. In order to assess the impact of the fluorophore substituents on the catalytic hydrolysis and on the phospholipid packing in the lipid-water interface of the assay, we used the experimentally determined specific activity of bee-venom phospholipase A2 as a model for the secretory PLA2 enzymes. Specifically, the rate of PLA2 hydrolysis of the coumarin labeled phosphatidylcholine analogs was less than three times slower than the natural substrate dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) under the same experimental conditions. Furthermore, variation of the mole fraction of the synthetic phosphatidylcholine vs. that of the natural DPPC substrate showed nearly ideal mixing behavior in the phospholipid-surfactant aggregates of the assay. The synthesis provides a rapid and efficient method for preparation of new synthetic phosphatidylcholines with the desired target structures for enzymatic and physicochemical studies.

Synthesis of lysophospholipids

New synthetic methods for the preparation of biologically active phospholipids and lysophospholipids (LPLs) are very important in solving problems of membrane-chemistry and biochemistry. Traditionally considered just as second-messenger molecules regulating intracellular signalling pathways, LPLs have recently shown to be involved in many physiological and pathological processes such as inflammation, reproduction, angiogenesis, tumorogenesis, atherosclerosis and nervous system regulation. Elucidation of the mechanistic details involved in the enzymological, cell-biological and membrane-biophysical roles of LPLs relies obviously on the availability of structurally diverse compounds. A variety of chemical and enzymatic routes have been reported in the literature for the synthesis of LPLs: the enzymatic transformation of natural glycerophospholipids (GPLs) using regiospecific enzymes such as phospholipases A1 (PLA1), A2 (PLA2) phospholipase D (PLD) and different lipases, the coupling of enzymatic processes with chemical transformations, the complete chemical synthesis of LPLs starting from glycerol or derivatives. In this review, chemo-enzymatic procedures leading to 1- and 2-LPLs will be described.

A new approach to phospholipid synthesis using tetrahydropyranyl glycerol: rapid access to phosphatidic acid and phosphatidylcholine, including mixed-chain glycerophospholipid derivatives

A new synthesis of phosphatidic acid and phosphatidylcholine is reported, relying on the preparation of 3-tetrahydropyranyl-sn-glycerol as the key intermediate for sequential introduction of the primary and secondary acyl functions to produce chiral diglycerides that are phosphorylated to obtain the target phospholipid compounds.

Tin-mediated synthesis of lyso-phospholipids

1-O-Acyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine and 1-O-acyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoric acid have been prepared selectively and with high yields from the corresponding diols, glycerophosphoryl choline and glycerol-3-phosphate. Starting from the diols, the activated tin ketals were prepared in 2-propanol by reaction with dialkyltin oxide. The intermediates were acylated in the same solvent with long-chain fatty acid chlorides, giving the corresponding 1-acyl-lyso-phospholipids in high yield and with complete regioselectivity. The catalytic nature of the tin-mediated acylation and the relevance of the solvent are discussed.