SnCl4 Promoted Efficient Cleavage of Acetal/Ketal Groups with the Assistance of Water in CH2Cl2

Acetalization and deacetalation are a pair of routine manipulations to protect and deprotect the 4- and 6-hydroxyl groups of glycosides in the synthesis of glycosyl building blocks. In this study, we found that treatment of SnCl₄ with various carbohydrates containing acetal/ketal groups with the assistance of water in CH₂Cl₂ led to deacetalization/deketalization products in almost quantitative yields. In addition, for substrates containing both acetal/ketal and p-methoxylbenzyl groups, we also found that the p-methoxylbenzyl group was selectively cleaved by the use of a catalytic amount of SnCl₄, while the acetal/ketal groups remained. Furthermore, based on this, 4,6-benzylidene glycosides can be conveniently converted to 4,6-OAc or 4-OH, 6-OAc glycosides.

One-Pot Regioselective Diacylation of Pyranoside 1,2-cis Diols

A one-pot strategy for functionalizing pyranoside 1,2-cis-diols with two different ester protecting groups is reported. The approach employs regioselective acylation via orthoester hydrolysis promoted by a carboxylic acid, e.g., levulinic acid, acetic acid, benzoic acid, or chloroacetic acid. Upon removal of water and introduction of a coupling agent, the carboxylic acid is esterified to the hydroxyl group liberated during hydrolysis. Although applied to 1,2-cis-diols on pyranoside scaffolds, the method should be applicable to such motifs on any six-membered ring.

Site-Selective Acylation of Pyranosides with Oligopeptide Catalysts

Herein, we report the oligopeptide-catalyzed site-selective acylation of partially protected monosaccharides. We identified catalysts that invert site-selectivity compared to N-methylimidazole, which was used to determine the intrinsic reactivity, for 4,6-O-protected glucopyranosides (trans-diols) as well as 4,6-O-protected mannopyranosides (cis-diols). The reaction yields up to 81% of the inherently unfavored 2-O-acetylated products with selectivities up to 15:1 using mild reaction conditions. We also determined the influence of protecting groups on the reaction and demonstrate that our protocol is suitable for one-pot reactions with multiple consecutive protection steps.

In Situ Switching of Site-Selectivity with Light in the Acetylation of Sugars with Azopeptide Catalysts

We present a novel concept for the in situ control of site-selectivity of catalytic acetylations of partially protected sugars using light as external stimulus and oligopeptide catalysts equipped with an azobenzene moiety. The isomerizable azobenzene-peptide backbone defines the size and shape of the catalytic pocket, while the π-methyl-l-histidine (Pmh) moiety transfers the electrophile. Photoisomerization of the E- to the Z-azobenzene catalyst (monitored via NMR) with an LED (λ = 365 nm) drastically changes the chemical environment around the catalytically active Pmh moiety, so that the light-induced change in the catalyst shape alters site-selectivity. As a proof of principle, we employed (4,6-O-benzylidene)methyl-α-d-pyranosides, which provide a change in regioselectivity from 2:1 (E) to 1:5 (Z) for the monoacetylated products at room temperature. The validity of this new catalyst-design concept is further demonstrated with the regioselective acetylation of the natural product quercetin. In situ irradiation NMR spectroscopy was used to quantify photostationary states under continuous irradiation with UV light.

Catalyst-free regioselective acetylation of primary hydroxy groups in partially protected and unprotected thioglycosides with acetic acid

Highly regioselective acetylation of primary hydroxy groups in thioglycoside derivatives with gluco- and galacto-configurations was achieved by treatment with aqueous or anhydrous acetic acid (60–100% AcOH) at elevated temperatures (80–118 °C), avoiding complex, costly and time-consuming manipulations with protective groups. Acetylation of both 4,6-O-benzylidene acetals and the corresponding diols as well as the unprotected tetraol with AcOH was shown to lead selectively to formation of 6-O-acetyl derivatives. For example, the treatment of phenyl 1-thio-β-d-glucopyranoside with anhydrous AcOH at 80 °C for 24 h gave the corresponding 6-O-acetylated derivative in 47% yield (71% based on the reacted starting material) and unreacted starting tetraol in 34% yield, which can easily be recovered by silica gel chromatography and reused in further acetylation.

Highly regioselective acetylation of primary hydroxy groups in thioglycoside derivatives was achieved by treatment with aqueous or anhydrous acetic acid (60–100%) at elevated temperatures (80–118 °C), avoiding manipulations with protective groups.

Aroyl and acyl cyanides as orthogonal protecting groups or as building blocks for the synthesis of heterocycles

α-Cyanoketones represent a synthetically attractive scaffold possessing bifunctional reactivity which enabled synthesis of a diversity of products. This involves reaction of nucleophiles with electrophilic carbonyl carbon performing an efficient and regioselective way to acylation reaction, cycloaddition of activated cyano function with dipolarophiles, metal-catalyzed cross-dehydrogenative coupling carbocyanation across C-C multiple bonds as well as hydrocyanation. This review provides the recent developments in the chemistry of α-cyanoketones which will be beneficial for researchers and scientists in such field.

Regio/Site-Selective Benzoylation of Carbohydrates by Catalytic Amounts of FeCl3

This work uncovered the regio/site-selective benzoylation of 1,2- and 1,3-diols and glycosides containing a cis-vicinal diol using a catalytic amount of FeCl₃ with the assistance of acetylacetone. FeCl₃ may initially form [Fe(acac)₃] (acac = acetylacetonate) with excess acetylacetone in the presence of diisopropylethylamine (DIPEA) in acetonitrile at room temperature. Then, benzoylation was catalyzed by Fe(acac)₃ with added benzoyl chloride in the presence of DIPEA under mild conditions as reported. This reaction produced selectivities and isolated yields similar to or slightly lower than the reaction using Fe(acac)₃ as a catalyst in most cases. The result provides not only the green and convenient selective benzoylation method associated with the most inexpensive catalysts but also the possibility that the effects of various metal salts and ligands on the regioselective protection can be extensively investigated in future study to obtain the optimized catalytic system.

Diisopropylethylamine-triggered, highly efficient, self-catalyzed regioselective acylation of carbohydrates and diols

A diisopropylethylamine (DIPEA)-triggered, self-catalyzed, regioselective acylation of carbohydrates and diols is presented. The hydroxyl groups can be acylated by the corresponding anhydride in MeCN in the presence of a catalytic amount of DIPEA. This method is comparatively green and mild as it uses less organic base compared with other selective acylation methods. Mechanistic studies indicate that DIPEA reacts with the anhydride to form a carboxylate ion, and then the carboxylate ion could catalyze the selective acylation through a dual H-bonding interaction.

"One-Pot" Protection, Glycosylation, and Protection-Glycosylation Strategies of Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates, which are ubiquitously distributed throughout the three domains of life, play significant roles in a variety of vital biological processes. Access to unique and homogeneous carbohydrate materials is important to understand their physical properties, biological functions, and disease-related features. It is difficult to isolate carbohydrates in acceptable purity and amounts from natural sources. Therefore, complex saccharides with well-defined structures are often most conviently accessed through chemical syntheses. Two major hurdles, regioselective protection and stereoselective glycosylation, are faced by carbohydrate chemists in synthesizing these highly complicated molecules. Over the past few years, there has been a radical change in tackling these problems and speeding up the synthesis of oligosaccharides. This is largely due to the development of one-pot protection, one-pot glycosylation, and one-pot protection-glycosylation protocols and streamlined approaches to orthogonally protected building blocks, including those from rare sugars, that can be used in glycan coupling. In addition, new automated strategies for oligosaccharide syntheses have been reported not only for program-controlled assembly on solid support but also by the stepwise glycosylation in solution phase. As a result, various sugar molecules with highly complex, large structures could be successfully synthesized. To summarize these recent advances, this review describes the methodologies for one-pot protection and their one-pot glycosylation into the complex glycans and the chronological developments associated with automated syntheses of oligosaccharides.

Enhanced site-selectivity in acylation reactions with substrate-optimized catalysts on solid supports

A concept for site-selective acylation is presented, using substrate-optimized DMAP–peptide conjugates on a solid support.

Regioselective Benzoylation of Diols and Carbohydrates by Catalytic Amounts of Organobase

A novel metal-free organobase-catalyzed regioselective benzoylation of diols and carbohydrates has been developed. Treatment of diol and carbohydrate substrates with 1.1 equiv. of 1-benzoylimidazole and 0.2 equiv. of 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene (DBU) in MeCN under mild conditions resulted in highly regioselective benzoylation for the primary hydroxyl group. Importantly, compared to most commonly used protecting bulky groups for primary hydroxyl groups, the benzoyl protective group offers a new protection strategy.

Regioselective Acylation of Diols and Triols: The Cyanide Effect

Central topics of carbohydrate chemistry embrace structural modifications of carbohydrates and oligosaccharide synthesis. Both require regioselectively protected building blocks that are mainly available via indirect multistep procedures. Hence, direct protection methods targeting a specific hydroxy group are demanded. Dual hydrogen bonding will eventually differentiate between differently positioned hydroxy groups. As cyanide is capable of various kinds of hydrogen bonding and as it is a quite strong sterically nondemanding base, regioselective O-acylations should be possible at low temperatures even at sterically congested positions, thus permitting formation and also isolation of the kinetic product. Indeed, 1,2-cis-diols, having an equatorial and an axial hydroxy group, benzoyl cyanide or acetyl cyanide as an acylating agent, and DMAP as a catalyst yield at -78 °C the thermodynamically unfavorable axial O-acylation product; acyl migration is not observed under these conditions. This phenomenon was substantiated with 3,4-O-unproteced galacto- and fucopyranosides and 2,3-O-unprotected mannopyranosides. Even for 3,4,6-O-unprotected galactopyranosides as triols, axial 4-O-acylation is appreciably faster than O-acylation of the primary 6-hydroxy group. The importance of hydrogen bonding for this unusual regioselectivity could be confirmed by NMR studies and DFT calculations, which indicate favorable hydrogen bonding of cyanide to the most acidic axial hydroxy group supported by hydrogen bonding of the equatorial hydroxy group to the axial oxygen. Thus, the "cyanide effect" is due to dual hydrogen bonding of the axial hydroxy group which enhances the nucleophilicity of the respective oxygen atom, permitting an even faster reaction for diols than for mono-ols. In contrast, fluoride as a counterion favors dual hydrogen bonding to both hydroxy groups leading to equatorial O-acylation.

Site-Selective Acylations with Tailor-Made Catalysts

The acylation of alcohols catalyzed by N,N-dimethylamino pyridine (DMAP) is, despite its widespread use, sometimes confronted with substrate-specific problems: For example, target compounds with multiple hydroxy groups may show insufficient selectivity for one hydroxyl, and the resulting product mixtures are hardly separable. Here we describe a concept that aims at tailor-made catalysts for the site-specific acylation. To this end, we introduce a catalyst library where each entry is constructed by connecting a variable and readily tuned peptide scaffold with a catalytically active unit based on DMAP. For selected examples, we demonstrate how library screening leads to the identification of optimized catalysts, and the substrates of interest can be converted with a markedly enhanced site-selectivity compared with only DMAP. Furthermore, substrate-optimized catalysts of this type can be used to selectively convert "their" substrate in the presence of structurally similar compounds, an important requisite for reactions with mixtures of substances.

Regioselective modification of unprotected glycosides

The regioselective modification of unprotected glycosides represents shortcuts in carbohydrate chemistry and enables efficient routes to complex derivatives.

Chiral copper(II) complex-catalyzed reactions of partially protected carbohydrates

Catalyst-controlled regioselective functionalization of partially protected saccharide molecules is a highly important yet under-developed area of carbohydrate chemistry. Such reactions allow for the reduction of protecting group manipulation steps required in syntheses involving sugars. Herein, an approach to these processes using enantiopure copper-bis(oxazoline) catalysts to control couplings of electrophiles to various partially protected sugars is reported. In a number of cases, divergent regioselectivity was observed as a function of the enantiomer of catalyst that is used.

H-bonding activation in highly regioselective acetylation of diols

H-bonding activation in the regioselective acetylation of vicinal and 1,3-diols is presented. Herein, the acetylation of the hydroxyl group with acetic anhydride can be activated by the formation of H-bonds between the hydroxyl group and anions. The reaction exhibits high regioselectivity when a catalytic amount of tetrabutylammonium acetate is employed. Mechanistic studies indicated that acetate anion forms dual H-bonding complexes with the diol, which facilitates the subsequent regioselective monoacetylation.

Regioselective silyl/acetate exchange of disaccharides yields advanced glycosyl donor and acceptor precursors

Glycoconjugates are composed of carbohydrate building blocks linked together in a multitude of ways giving rise to diverse biological functions. Carbohydrates are especially difficult to synthetically manipulate because of the similar reactivity of their numerous and largely equivalent hydroxyl groups. Hence, methodologies for both the efficient protection and selective modification of carbohydrate alcohols are considered important synthetic tools in organic chemistry. When per-O-TMS protected mono- or disaccharides in a mixture of pyridine and acetic anhydride are treated with acetic acid, regioselective exchange of silicon for acetate protecting groups occurs. Acid concentration, thermal conditions, and microwave assistance mediate the silyl/acetate exchange reaction. Regiocontrol is achieved by limiting the equivalents of acetic acid, and microwave irradiation hastens the process. We coined the term Regioselective Silyl Exchange Technology (ReSET) to describe this process, which essentially sets the protecting groups anew. To demonstrate the scope of the reaction, the conditions were applied to lactose, melibiose, cellobiose, and trehalose. ReSET provided rapid access to a wide range of orthogonally protected disaccharides that would otherwise require multiple synthetic steps to acquire. The resulting bifunctional molecules are poised to serve as modular building blocks for more complex glycoconjugates.