Tandem Radical Fragmentation/Cyclization of Guanidinylated Monosaccharides Grants Access to Medium-Sized Polyhydroxylated Heterocycles

Advancing carbohydrate functionality: The role of hypervalent iodine

Hypervalent iodine reagents have undergone significant development and widespread application in the functionalization of carbohydrates. This is primarily attributed to their exceptional properties, including mildness, ease of handling, high selectivity, environmental friendliness, and stability. This review aims to emphasize the utilization of hypervalent iodine compounds in the functionalization of carbohydrates. The present article covers various aspects, including glycal functionalization, C-H or N-H insertion reactions, O-arylations, C-2 deoxy-2-iodo glycoconjugates, iminosugars, and C3-oxo-glycals, achieved through the use of hypervalent iodine reagents/catalysts. Additionally, it explores hypervalent iodine-mediated bioactive 1,3,5-trioxocane synthesis followed by rare sugars synthesis.

Exploiting photoredox catalysis for carbohydrate modification through C–H and C–C bond activation

Photoredox catalysis has recently emerged as a powerful synthetic platform for accessing complex chemical structures through non-traditional bond disconnection strategies that proceed through free-radical intermediates. Such synthetic strategies have been used for a range of organic transformations; however, in carbohydrate chemistry they have primarily been applied to the generation of oxocarbenium ion intermediates in the ubiquitous glycosylation reaction. In this Review, we present more intricate light-induced synthetic strategies to modify native carbohydrates through homolytic C-H and C-C bond cleavage. These strategies allow access to glycans and glycoconjugates with profoundly altered carbohydrate skeletons, which are challenging to obtain through conventional synthetic means. Carbohydrate derivatives with such structural motifs represent a broad class of natural products integral to numerous biochemical processes and can be found in active pharmaceutical substances. Here we present progress made in C-H and C-C bond activation of carbohydrates through photoredox catalysis, focusing on the operational mechanisms and the scope of the described methodologies.

“Cut and Paste” Processes in the Search of Bioactive Products: One-Pot, Metal-free O-Radical Scission-Oxidation-Addition of C, N or P-Nucleophiles

Hypervalent iodine reagents have been applied in many metal-free, efficient synthesis of natural products and other bioactive compounds. In particular, treatment of alcohols, acetals and acids with hypervalent iodine reagents and iodine results in O-radicals that can undergo a β-scission reaction. Under these oxidative conditions, derivatives of amino acids, peptides or carbohydrates are converted into cationic intermediates, which can subsequently undergo inter- or intramolecular addition of nucleophiles. Most reported papers describe the addition of oxygen nucleophiles, but this review is focused on the addition of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous nucleophiles. The resulting products (nucleoside and alkaloid analogs, unnatural amino acids, site-selectively modified peptides) are valuable intermediates or analogs of bioactive compounds.

Synthesis and Exploitation of the Biological Profile of Novel Guanidino Xylofuranose Derivatives

The synthesis and biological evaluation of novel guanidino sugars as isonucleoside analogs is described. 5-Guanidino xylofuranoses containing 3- O -saturated/unsaturated hydrocarbon or aromatic-containing moieties were accessed from 5-azido xylofuranoses via reduction followed by guanidinylation with N , N '-bis( tert -butoxycarbonyl)- N ''-triflylguanidine. Molecules comprising novel types of isonucleosidic structures including 5-guanidino 3- O -methyl-branched N -benzyltriazole isonucleosides and a guanidinomethyltriazole 3'- O -dodecyl xylofuranos-5'-yl isonucleoside were accessed. The guanidinomethyltriazole derivative and a 3- O -dodecyl ( N -Boc)guanidino xylofuranose were revealed as selective inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase ( K i = 22.87 and 7.49 µM, respectively). The latter also showed moderate antiproliferative effects in chronic myeloid leukemia (K562) and breast cancer (MCF-7) cells. An aminomethyltriazole 5'-isonucleoside was the most potent molecule with low micromolar GI 50 values in both cells (GI 50 = 6.33 μM, 8.45 μM), similar to that of the drug 5-fluorouracil in MCF-7 cells. Moreover, the most bioactive compounds showed low toxicity in human fibroblasts, further indicating their interest as promising lead molecules.

Intramolecular Metal-Free C(sp3)-H Activation Enables a Selective Mono O-Debenzylation of Fully Protected Aminosugars

Carbamate-bearing benzylated aminosugars undergo an I₂/I(III)-promoted intramolecular hydrogen atom transfer (IHAT) followed by a nucleophilic attack to provide polycyclic structures. Thus, suitably positioned benzyl ethers are surgically oxidized into the corresponding mixed N/O-benzylidene acetals, which can be conveniently deprotected under mild acidic conditions to grant access to selectively O-deprotected aminosugars amenable for further derivatization. The scope of this strategy has been proven with a series of furanosic and pyranosic scaffolds. Preliminary mechanistic studies, including Hammett LFER and KIE analyses, support a reaction pathway with nucleophilic cyclization as the rate-determining step.

Alkoxy Radicals See the Light: New Paradigms of Photochemical Synthesis

Alkoxy radicals are highly reactive species that have long been recognized as versatile intermediates in organic synthesis. However, their development has long been impeded due to a lack of convenient methods for their generation. Thanks to advances in photoredox catalysis, enabling facile access to alkoxy radicals from bench-stable precursors and free alcohols under mild conditions, research interest in this field has been renewed. This review comprehensively summarizes the recent progress in alkoxy radical-mediated transformations under visible light irradiation. Elementary steps for alkoxy radical generation from either radical precursors or free alcohols are central to reaction development; thus, each section is categorized and discussed accordingly. Throughout this review, we have focused on the different mechanisms of alkoxy radical generation as well as their impact on synthetic utilizations. Notably, the catalytic generation of alkoxy radicals from abundant alcohols is still in the early stage, providing intriguing opportunities to exploit alkoxy radicals for diverse synthetic paradigms.