Cyanopivaloyl Ester in the Automated Solid-Phase Synthesis of Oligorhamnans

Elucidating the role of N-acetylglucosamine in Group A Carbohydrate for the development of an effective glycoconjugate vaccine against Group A Streptococcus

Group A Carbohydrate (GAC), conjugated to an appropriate carrier protein, has been proposed as an attractive vaccine candidate against Group A Streptococcus infections. Native GAC consists of a polyrhamnose (polyRha) backbone with N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) at every second rhamnose residue. Both native GAC and the polyRha backbone have been proposed as vaccine components. Here, chemical synthesis and glycoengineering were used to generate a panel of different length GAC and polyrhamnose fragments. Biochemical analyses were performed confirming that the epitope motif of GAC is composed of GlcNAc in the context of the polyrhamnose backbone. Conjugates from GAC isolated and purified from a bacterial strain and polyRha genetically expressed in E. coli and with similar molecular size to GAC were compared in different animal models. The GAC conjugate elicited higher anti-GAC IgG levels with stronger binding capacity to Group A Streptococcus strains than the polyRha one, both in mice and in rabbits. This work contributes to the development of a vaccine against Group A Streptococcus suggesting GAC as preferable saccharide antigen to include in the vaccine.

Analysis of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry: An update for 2017-2018

This review is the tenth update of the original article published in 1999 on the application of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI) mass spectrometry to the analysis of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates and brings coverage of the literature to the end of 2018. Also included are papers that describe methods appropriate to glycan and glycoprotein analysis by MALDI, such as sample preparation techniques, even though the ionization method is not MALDI. Topics covered in the first part of the review include general aspects such as theory of the MALDI process, new methods, matrices, derivatization, MALDI imaging, fragmentation and the use of arrays. The second part of the review is devoted to applications to various structural types such as oligo- and poly-saccharides, glycoproteins, glycolipids, glycosides, and biopharmaceuticals. Most of the applications are presented in tabular form. The third part of the review covers medical and industrial applications of the technique, studies of enzyme reactions, and applications to chemical synthesis. The reported work shows increasing use of combined new techniques such as ion mobility and highlights the impact that MALDI imaging is having across a range of diciplines. MALDI is still an ideal technique for carbohydrate analysis and advancements in the technique and the range of applications continue steady progress.

Developing an Effective Glycan-based Vaccine for Streptococcus Pyogenes

Streptococcus pyogenes is a primary infective agent that causes approximately 700 million human infections each year, resulting in more than 500,000 deaths. Carbohydrate-based vaccines are proven to be one of the most promising subunit vaccine candidates, as the bacterial glycan pattern(s) are different from mammalian cells and show increased pathogen serotype conservancy than the protein components. In this review we highlight reverse vaccinology for use in the development of subunit vaccines against S. pyogenes, and report reproducible methods of carbohydrate antigen production, in addition to the structure-immunogenicity correlation between group A carbohydrate epitopes and alternative vaccine antigen carrier systems. We also report recent advances used to overcome hurdles in carbohydrate-based vaccine development.

Progress and challenges in the synthesis of sequence controlled polysaccharides

The sequence, length and substitution of a polysaccharide influence its physical and biological properties. Thus, sequence controlled polysaccharides are important targets to establish structure-properties correlations. Polymerization techniques and enzymatic methods have been optimized to obtain samples with well-defined substitution patterns and narrow molecular weight distribution. Chemical synthesis has granted access to polysaccharides with full control over the length. Here, we review the progress towards the synthesis of well-defined polysaccharides. For each class of polysaccharides, we discuss the available synthetic approaches and their current limitations.

Protecting group migrations in carbohydrate chemistry

Protecting groups are valuable in chemo- and regioselective synthetic manipulations. In particular, they are indispensable in carbohydrate chemistry. Although a wide array of protecting groups are available at the disposal of carbohydrate chemists, their stability and orthogonality make the choice of protecting groups challenging. Another important factor is the migratory aptitude of different protecting groups used in carbohydrate chemistry. Migration of commonly used groups like silyl, acetal and acyl groups under various reaction conditions are discussed. Synthetic application of predicted migrations, alternate protecting groups to avoid migration and conditions favoring and disfavoring migrations are discussed in this review.

Glycoconjugate vaccines: some observations on carrier and production methods

Glycoconjugate vaccines use protein carriers to improve the immune response to polysaccharide antigens. The protein component allows the vaccine to interact with T cells, providing a stronger and longer-lasting immune response than a polysaccharide interacting with B cells alone. Whilst in theory the mere presence of a protein component in a vaccine should be sufficient to improve vaccine efficacy, the extent of improvement varies. In the present review, a comparison of the performances of vaccines developed with and without a protein carrier are presented. The usefulness of analytical tools for macromolecular integrity assays, in particular nuclear magnetic resonance, circular dichroism, analytical ultracentrifugation and SEC coupled to multi-angle light scattering (MALS) is indicated. Although we focus mainly on bacterial capsular polysaccharide-protein vaccines, some consideration is also given to research on experimental cancer vaccines using zwitterionic polysaccharides which, unusually for polysaccharides, are able to invoke T-cell responses and have been used in the development of potential all-polysaccharide-based cancer vaccines.A general trend of improved immunogenicity for glycoconjugate vaccines is described. Since the immunogenicity of a vaccine will also depend on carrier protein type and the way in which it has been linked to polysaccharide, the effects of different carrier proteins and production methods are also reviewed. We suggest that, in general, there is no single best carrier for use in glycoconjugate vaccines. This indicates that the choice of carrier protein is optimally made on a case-by-case basis, based on what generates the best immune response and can be produced safely in each individual case.Abbreviations: AUC: analytical ultracentrifugation; BSA: bovine serum albumin; CD: circular dichroism spectroscopy; CPS: capsular polysaccharide; CRM197: Cross Reactive Material 197; DT: diphtheria toxoid; Hib: Haemophilius influenzae type b; MALS: multi-angle light scattering; Men: Neisseria menigitidis; MHC-II: major histocompatibility complex class II; NMR: nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy; OMP: outer membrane protein; PRP: polyribosyl ribitol phosphate; PSA: Polysaccharide A1; Sa: Salmonella; St.: Streptococcus; SEC: size exclusion chromatography; Sta: Staphylococcus; TT: tetanus toxoid; ZPS: zwitterionic polysaccharide(s).

Leloir Glycosyltransferases in Applied Biocatalysis: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Enzymes are nature’s catalyst of choice for the highly selective and efficient coupling of carbohydrates. Enzymatic sugar coupling is a competitive technology for industrial glycosylation reactions, since chemical synthetic routes require extensive use of laborious protection group manipulations and often lack regio- and stereoselectivity. The application of Leloir glycosyltransferases has received considerable attention in recent years and offers excellent control over the reactivity and selectivity of glycosylation reactions with unprotected carbohydrates, paving the way for previously inaccessible synthetic routes. The development of nucleotide recycling cascades has allowed for the efficient production and reuse of nucleotide sugar donors in robust one-pot multi-enzyme glycosylation cascades. In this way, large glycans and glycoconjugates with complex stereochemistry can be constructed. With recent advances, LeLoir glycosyltransferases are close to being applied industrially in multi-enzyme, programmable cascade glycosylations.

Automated solution-phase syntheses of alpha 1 → 2, 1 → 3 type rhamnans and rhamnan sulfate fragments

Rhamnan and rhamnan sulfate are naturally occurring carbohydrates that have important biological functions and possible therapeutic applications, but studies are limited to the microheterogeneous mixtures from natural sources. This work reports the first synthesis of any sulfated rhamnan fragments and successful automation of the process with a recently developed automated solution-phase approach using N-iodosuccinimide/trimethylsilyl triflate (NIS/TMSOTf) promotor and levulinoyl ester deprotection conditions. The automated solution-phase activation/deprotection approach was initially able to create alpha 1 → 2, 1 → 3 type rhamnan di- and trisaccharide in moderate yields. Once these targets were achieved, a process to use SO₃•pyridine complex in DMF for sulfation compatible with an automated solution-phase liquid handling system was developed and successfully applied to carbohydrate sulfation to create two rhamnan sulfate fragments with differing monosulfation patterns.

Acid-mediated N-iodosuccinimide-based thioglycoside activation for the automated solution-phase synthesis of α-1,2-linked-rhamnopyranosides

Carbohydrate structures are often complex. Unfortunately, synthesis of the range of sugar combinations precludes the use of a single coupling protocol or set of reagents. Adapting known, reliable bench-chemistry reactions to work via automation will help forward the goal of synthesizing a broad range of glycans. Herein, the preparation of di- and tri-saccharides of alpha 1→2 rhamnan fragments is demonstrated using thioglycoside donors with the development for a solution-phase-based automation platform of commonly used activation conditions using N-iodosuccinimide (NIS) with trimethylsilyl triflate. Byproducts of the glycosylation reaction are shown to be compatible with hydrazine-based deprotection conditions, lending broader functionality to this method as only one fluorous-solid-phase extraction step per coupling/deprotection cycle is required.

Automated glycan assembly of Lewis type I and II oligosaccharide antigens

Human blood group related glycan antigens are fucosylated (neo-)lactoseries oligosaccharides that play crucial roles in pathogenic processes. Lewis type-II-chain antigens mark the surface of cancer cells, but are also mediators of bacterial infections. To investigate the biological roles of Lewis type glycans a host of synthetic approaches has been developed. Here, we illustrate how automated glycan assembly (AGA) using a set of six monosaccharide building blocks provides quick access to a series of more than ten defined Lewis type-I and type-II antigens, including Lex, Ley, Lea, Leb and KH-1. Glycans with up to three α-fucose branches were assembled following a strictly linear approach and obtained in excellent stereoselectivity and purity.

Manual and Automated Syntheses of the N-Linked Glycoprotein Core Glycans

Presented herein are two complementary approaches to the synthesis of the core N-glycan pentasaccharide. The first, a traditional manual approach in solution, makes use of the H-bond-mediated aglycone delivery method for the highly diastereoselective introduction of the β-mannosidic linkage at room temperature. The synthesis of the core pentasaccharide was also accomplished using an high-performance liquid chromatography-assisted automated approach. The overall assembly was swift (8 h) and efficient (31%).

Automated Glycan Assembly: A Perspective

The intrinsic complexity of carbohydrate structures has hampered access to pure glycans and hence impeded progress in the glycosciences. Automated Glycan Assembly (AGA) has facilitated the procurement of synthetic glycans, to be used in diagnostics, vaccine development, enzyme characterization and structure-function relationship studies. A general approach for obtaining complex glycans from mammalian, bacterial, fungal and plant classes provides molecular tools for glycobiology research. Recent advances in AGA technology pave the way for the production of novel carbohydrate materials. This perspective describes the state-of-the art of AGA and aspects of the technology where additional improvements are needed.

Challenges in the Conversion of Manual Processes to Machine-Assisted Syntheses: Activation of Thioglycoside Donors with Aryl(trifluoroethyl)iodonium Triflimide

The steps needed to adapt a stable iodonium promoter for use in automated fluorous-assisted solution-phase oligosaccharide synthesis are described. Direct adaptation of the originally reported batch procedure resulted in the formation of an orthoester or protecting group transfer to the glycosyl acceptor. Fortunately, the addition of inexpensive β-pinene as an acid scavenger avoided both of these side reactions. The utility of this newly developed protocol was applied to the automated solution-phase synthesis of a β-glucan fragment.