Creating glycoside diversity through stereoselective carboboration of glycals

Site-specific modification of glycosides to enhance or alter the physiological properties of the parent molecule has become a highly attractive strategy in drug development. However, creating glycoside building blocks with multiple diversifiable positions from readily available sugar precursors remains a challenging task. Herein, we present a highly regio- and stereoselective nickel-catalyzed carboboration of glycals, which offers a platform for generating glycoside diversity with diverse C1 and C2 modification potential. Specially, the integration of a readily modifiable boronate group at the C2 position markedly amplifies the versatility of this approach, furnishing a universal method for swiftly generating diverse rare sugars with C2-site modifications through expedited downstream transformations. This method demonstrates a broad substrate scope and tolerates various functional groups and complex natural or drug molecular architectures. Moreover, we illustrate the synthetic potential of this method through the synthesis of a diverse array of analogs of both natural products and pharmaceuticals.

Synthesis of 2-Amino-2-deoxy Sugars via Boron-Catalyzed Coupling of Glycosyl Fluorides and Silyl Ether Acceptors

Although aminosugars are important components in a variety of bioactive molecules, their stereoselective formation is made challenging by the Lewis basic nature of amino substituents. Additionally, the use of N-acyl protecting groups is often problematic due to the competing formation of oxazolines during the glycosylation of 2-aminosugar derivatives. Herein, we report a boron-catalyzed strategy utilizing silyl ether glycosyl acceptors and 2-aminosugar donors that employs the 2,2,2-trichloroethoxycarbonyl (Troc) protecting group for the C2 amino functionality in glycosyl fluorides. This modification allows for operationally simple room-temperature glycosylations and features a rapid reaction profile that addresses some of the limitations in the synthesis of 2-amino-2-deoxy sugar-containing glycosides. Tailoring the order of reactivity of the silyl acceptors enables one-pot iterative glycosylations, thus streamlining the synthesis of complex oligosaccharides while allowing fewer intermediates and purification steps.

Controllable 1,3-Bis-Functionalization of 2-Nitroglycals with High Regioselectivity and Stereoselectivity Enabled by a H-Bond Catalyst

The selective modification of carbohydrates is significant for producing their unnatural analogues for drug discovery. C1-functionalization (glycosylation) and C1,C2-difunctionalization of carbohydrates have been well developed. In contrast, C3-functionalization or C1,C3-difunctionalization of carbohydrates remains rare. Herein, we report such processes that efficiently and stereoselectively modify carbohydrates. Specifically, we found that trifluoroethanol (TFE) could promote 1,3-bis-indolylation/pyrrolylation of 2-nitroglycals generated carbohydrate derivatives in up to 93% yield at room temperature; slightly reducing the temperature could install two different indoles at the C1- and C3-positions. Switching TFE to a bifunctional amino thiourea catalyst leads to the generation of C3 monosubstituted carbohydrates, which could also be used to construct 1,3-di-C-functionalized carbohydrates. This approach produced a range of challenging sugar derivatives (over 80 examples) with controllable and high stereoselectivity (single isomer for over 90% of the examples). The potential applications of the reaction were demonstrated by a set of transformations including the synthesis of bridged large-ring molecules and gram scale reactions. Biological activities evaluation demonstrated that three compounds exhibit a potent inhibitory effect on human cancer cells T24, HCT116, AGS, and MKN-45 with IC50 ranged from 0.695 to 3.548 μM.

Conceptual advances in nucleophilic organophosphine-promoted transformations

Catalysis by trivalent nucleophilic organophosphines has emerged as an essential tool in organic synthesis. Several new organic transformations promoted by phosphines substantiate and complement the existing synthetic chemistry tools. Mere design of the substrate and reagent combinations has introduced new modes of reactivity patterns, which are otherwise difficult to achieve. These design considerations have led to the rapid build-up of complex molecular entities and laid a solid foundation to synthesise bioactive natural products and pharmaceuticals. This article presents an overview of some of the conceptual advances, including our contributions to nucleophilic organophosphine chemistry. The scope, limitations, mechanistic insights, and applications of these metal-free transformations are discussed elaborately.

Amino-Acid-Derived Amides as Stereodirecting Leaving Groups for Ferrier Rearrangement via Pd(0)-Catalyzed Tsuji-Trost Reactions

Ferrier rearrangement on glycals is an efficient tool to form 2,3-dideoxy glycosides that provide access to various sugar derivatives through olefin functionalization. The classical acid-mediated transformation delivers the α-O-glycosides selectively. In this protocol, amides obtained from amino acids, glycine and proline, have been utilized as sustainable β-directing leaving groups on glycal substrates. The directing groups facilitate β-selective Ferrier rearrangements for hard alcohol nucleophiles by following the Pd(0)-catalyzed Tsuji-Trost inner sphere pathway.

Operationally simple enzymatic deprotection of C-3 position on 3,4,6-tri-O-acetyl-d-glucal

The new strategies to obtain selectively protected hydroxyl function on sugar derivatives are still of the high value for the progress of glycochemistry and organic synthesis. Herein, we describe an interesting enzymatic deprotection strategy that was applied to the most commonly used glycal derivative - 3,4,6-tri-O-acetyl-d-glucal. The procedure is operationally simple, easy to scale-up and the biocatalyst might be effortlessly recycled from the reaction mixture. Resulting product - 4,6-di-O-acetyl-D-glucal we then challenged to synthesize two glycal synthons armed with 3 different protecting group - a synthetic target difficult to achieve with traditional methods.

Behaviour of some 1-C-acceptor-substituted glycals under azidohydroxylation conditions

Azidohydroxylation of 1-carbamoyl, 1-methoxycarbonyl and 1-cyano substituted d-lyxo and d-arabino configured O-peracylated glycals was studied and the reaction conditions were optimized. Under these conditions (3 equiv. NaN₃/2 equiv. PIFA/0.3 equiv. TEMPO/50 equiv. H₂O/dry DCM/0 °C/Ar) the expected 3-azido-3-deoxy ulopyranosonic acid derivatives were isolated in good yield with α-d-galacto configuration exclusively from the reaction of the 1-carbamoyl and 1-methoxycarbonyl substituted d-lyxo configured O-peracetylated glycals, while the transformation of the 1-cyano derivative gave a 2,3-vicinal diazide in low yield. The 1-carbamoyl d-arabino configured O-perbenzoylated glycal gave a mixture of α-d-gluco and α-d-manno configured azidohydroxylated products with d-gluco preference. The analogous 1-methoxycarbonyl derivative gave an inseparable product mixture and no transformation was detected with the respective 1-cyano glycal.

Ferrier/Aza-Wacker/Epoxidation/Glycosylation (FAWEG) Sequence to Access 1,2-Trans 3-Amino-3-deoxyglycosides

3-Amino-3-deoxyglycosides constitute an essential class of nitrogen-containing sugars. Among them, many important 3-amino-3-deoxyglycosides possess a 1,2-trans relationship. In view of their numerous biological applications, the synthesis of 3-amino-3-deoxyglycosyl donors giving rise to a 1,2-trans glycosidic linkage is thus an important challenge. Even though glycals are highly polyvalent donors, the synthesis and reactivity of 3-amino-3-deoxyglycals have been little studied. In this work, we describe a new sequence, involving a Ferrier rearrangement and subsequent aza-Wacker cyclization that allows the rapid synthesis of orthogonally protected 3-amino-3-deoxyglycals. Finally a 3-amino-3-deoxygalactal derivative was submitted for the first time to an epoxidation/glycosylation with high yield and great diastereoselectivity, highlighting FAWEG (Ferrier/Aza-Wacker/Epoxidation/Glycosylation) as a new approach to access 1,2-trans 3-amino-3-deoxyglycosides.

Sulfamate-Tethered Aza-Wacker Cyclization Strategy for the Syntheses of 2-Amino-2-deoxyhexoses: Preparation of Orthogonally Protected d-Galactosamines

We present a new strategy for the assembly of protected d-galactosamine synthons. Our route uses a sulfamate-tethered aza-Wacker cyclization as a key step and commences from d-erythrono-1,4-lactone. This stands in contrast to most literature syntheses of 2-amino-2-deoxyhexose derivatives, as these generally employ glycals or hexoses as starting materials. This strategy may serve as a template for the assembly of many other 2-amino-2-deoxyhexoses with protection patterns difficult to access by conventional methods.

o-Cyanobenzoate: A Recyclable and Reusable Stereo-directing Group for β-O-Glycosylation via Pd(0)-catalyzed Ferrier Rearrangement

Inner sphere Tsuji-Trost reaction has found recent application for β-selective Ferrier rearrangement of glycal substrates with alcohol nucleophiles. Herein, we report an efficient and stereoselective synthesis of 2,3-dideoxy-β-O-glycosides from C3-(o-cyanobenzoate) ester protected glycal donors via Ferrier rearrangement under Pd(0)-catalyzed Tsuji-Trost conditions. The synthesized donors indeed reacted with a variety of acceptors to afford the corresponding glycosides in good yields and excellent β-stereoselectivity. The stereochemical outcome of the reactions has been found to be independent of the nature of protecting groups or conformational flexibility of the glycal donors. Furthermore, regeneration of ortho-cyanobenzoic acid post rearrangement makes it a recyclable and reusable stereodirecting group. A preliminary mechanistic study demonstrates the importance of cyano-group for the observed rearrangement and stereoselectivity. Incorporation of the directing group on the benzoate ester has altered the reactivity of the ester group as a leaving group for Tsuji-Trost as well as Ferrier Rearrangement pathway.

From Glycals to Nitrogen Heterocycles and Carbocycles via "Cleavage-Intramolecular Recombination Strategy"

Glycals (carbohydrate enol-ethers) have enjoyed profound applications in organic synthesis for more than a century. They not only serve as versatile glycosyl donors or as substrates for Ferrier rearrangement, but also find extensive synthetic applications especially as a "chiral pool" for accomplishing the synthesis of a variety of natural and biologically important compounds. As cyclic enol ethers, they demonstrate high reactivity and are among the most and variously transformable monosaccharide derivatives. The uniqueness of the reactivity of glycals is that they can be synthetically tuned to get a library of derivatives through stereo- and regioselective introduction of a variety of functional groups at C1, C2, C3 as well as C4 carbons of the sugar. We have developed a practical approach for stereoselective mono- and diamination of glycals and over the years utilized these scaffolds for the synthesis of a variety of biologically important nitrogen heterocycles and carbocycles through a "Diversity Oriented Approach". Our synthetic strategy in this direction mainly relied on the cleavage of ring O-C bond of the sugar followed by an "intramolecular recombination" reaction. Utilizing this strategy, we have accomplished the synthesis of several biologically important natural products, their analogues and related unnatural derivatives. Examples of such compounds reported from our group include polyhydroxypyrrolidines, DMDP, anisomycin, steviamine, pochonicine, conduramines, bulgecinine, aminocyclitols, azepanes, 4-hydroxy-D-proline, azanucleosides and their analogues. A personal account highlighting these syntheses is presented here.

Synthetic Study toward Saccharomicin Based upon Asymmetric Metal Catalysis

Here, we report a de novo metal-catalyzed approach toward the stereoselective glycosidic bond formation in saccharomicin. The signature step is highlighted by the Pd-catalyzed asymmetric coupling of ene-alkoxyallenes and highly functionalized alcohol substrates. The reaction showed high chemo-, regio-, and ligand-driven diastereoselectivity. In combination with the ring-closing metathesis and late-stage functionalization, this method led to highly efficient synthesis of saccharosamine-rhamnose and rhamnose-fucose fragments.

Display of Rich Reactivities of Endo- and Exocyclic Unsaturated Sugars that Parallel the Native Sugars

Unsaturated monosaccharides expand the scope of reactivities in a sugar, directly leading to the development of newer methodologies, molecular structures and functional entities. The unsaturation as a reactive moiety can either be within the molecule, namely, endocyclic, or as a pendant moiety around the molecule, namely, exocyclic. One carbon homologations aided by reactions at the unsaturated moiety expand the molecular structures in both endo- and exocyclic sugars and lead to structures that are largely hitherto unknown. Molecular shifts and rearrangements permit interchanging the reactivities from one carbon to the other in unsaturated sugars. Activations of exocyclic unsaturated sugars also find newer possibilities to reactions central to the sugar chemistry, namely, the glycosylations. The personal reflections result from a couple of decades of explorations that traverse through the unsaturated sugars from different vantage points.

1,2-trans-Stereoselective Synthesis of C-Glycosides of 2-Deoxy-2-amino-sugars Involving Glycosyl Radicals

We report for the first time that the imidate radical can be efficiently added to glycals to generate glycosyl radicals, based on which a general, toxic-reagent-free synthesis of C-glycosides of 2-deoxy-2-amino sugars has been developed. Complementary to previous strategies, the reaction is 1,2-trans-stereoselective and could use aryl alkenes as substrates. The late-stage functionalization and density functional theory calculations are reported.

Allyl Cyanate/Isocyanate Rearrangement in Glycals: Stereoselective Synthesis of 1-Amino and Diamino Sugar Derivatives

The [3,3]-sigmatropic allyl cyanate/isocyanate rearrangement of glycals in the presence of O-, N-, and C-nucleophiles afforded β-N-glucosyl and galactosyl carbamates, ureas, and amides in good yields. The unsaturated products were elaborated to N-glycosides by dihydroxylation, to 1,3-diaminosugars by tethered aminohydroxylation, or to 1,2-diaminosugars by iteration of the sigmatropic rearrangement. This metal-free methodology represents an excellent and general method for the stereoselective synthesis of N-glycosides and diamino sugars with complete transmission of stereochemical information.

A light- and heat-driven glycal diazidation approach to nitrogenous carbohydrate derivatives with antiviral activity

The aminated mimetics of 2-keto-3-deoxy-sugar acids such as the anti-influenza clinical drugs oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) are important bioactive molecules. Development of synthetic methodologies for accessing such compound collections is highly desirable. Herein, we describe a simple, catalyst-free glycal diazidation protocol enabled by visible light-driven conditions. This new method requires neither acid promoters nor transition-metal catalysts and takes place at ambient temperature within 1-2 hours. Notably, the desired transformations could be promoted by thermal conditions as well, albeit with lower efficacy compared to the light-induced conditions. Different sugar acid-derived glycal templates have been converted into a range of 2,3-diazido carbohydrate analogs by harnessing this mild and scalable approach, leading to the discovery of new antiviral agents.

Synthesis of di- and trihydroxy proline derivatives from D-glycals: Application in the synthesis of polysubstituted pyrrolizidines and bioactive 1C-aryl/alkyl pyrrolidines

Six different types of O-benzyl protected proline derivatives have been synthesized from D-glycals and 2C-formyl-glycals. One of the di-O-benzyl protected proline derivatives has been utilized for the synthesis of polysubstituted pyrrolizidines via [3 + 2] cycloaddition in a stereoselective manner. Further, we also report on the stereoselective synthesis of biologically active 1C-aryl/alkyl pyrrolidines i.e. 4-epi-radicamine B, 4-epi-radicamine A, 1C-butyl and 1C-methyl pyrrolidines through double reductive amination of a variety of D-glucal derived diketones with p-methoxybenzylamine.

Glycal Metallanitrenes for 2-Amino Sugar Synthesis: Amidoglycosylation of Gulal-, Allal-, Glucal-, and Galactal 3-Carbamates

The rhodium(II)-catalyzed oxidative cyclization of glycal 3-carbamates with in situ incorporation of an alcohol nucleophile at the anomeric position provides access to a range of 2-amino sugars having 1,2-trans-2,3-cis stereochemistry, a structural motif present in compounds of medicinal and biological significance such as the streptothricin group of antibiotics and the Chitinase inhibitor allosamidin. All of the diastereomeric d-glycal 3-carbamates have been investigated, revealing significant differences in anomeric stereoselectivity depending on substrate stereochemistry and protecting groups. In addition, some substrates were prone to forming C3-oxidized dihydropyranone byproducts under the reaction conditions. Allal- and gulal 3-carbamates provided uniformly high stereo- and chemoselectivity, while for glucal substrates, acyclic, electron-withdrawing protecting groups at the 4 O and 6 O positions were required. Galactal 3-carbamates have been the most challenging substrates; formation of their amidoglycosylation products is most effective with an electron-withdrawing 6 O-Ts substituent and a sterically demanding 4 O-TBS group. These results suggest a mechanism whereby conformational and electronic factors determine the partitioning of an intermediate acyl nitrenoid between alkene addition, leading to amidoglycosylation, and C3-H insertion, providing the dihydropyranone byproduct. Along the amidoglycosylation pathway, high anomeric selectivity results when a glycosyl aziridine intermediate is favored over an aziridine-opened oxocarbenium donor.

A stereoselective and flexible synthesis to access both enantiomers of N-acetylgalactosamine and peracetylated N-acetylidosamine

Synthetic approaches towards N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc) have been attracting considerable interest since this compound is known for its pivotal role in cell–cell interaction and receptor induced cell signaling. Herein, we present a synthetic route in which two of the four stereogenic centers present in the target compound are derived from enantiopure tartaric acid being selectively converted to epoxy alcohols. The key step is the Pd-catalyzed, stereo- and regioselective epoxide opening and subsequent nucleophilic substitution of an azide functionality. This approach enables the synthesis of the naturally D- and unnaturally L-configured GalNAc, as well as both enantiomers of the largely unknown N-acetylidosamine (IdoNAc).

Conversion of glycals into vicinal-1,2-diazides and 1,2-(or 2,1)-azidoacetates using hypervalent iodine reagents and Me3SiN3. Application in the synthesis of N-glycopeptides, pseudo-trisaccharides and an iminosugar

Glycals react with PIFA (or PIDA)–TMSN₃in presence of TMSOTf to form sugar derived 1,2-diazides and vicinal azidoacetates. Synthesis of 2-azido-N-glycopeptides, pseudotrisaccharides, and a piperidine triol derivative is reported.