3,4-Dideoxy-3,3,4,4-tetrafluoro- and 4-OH epimeric 3-deoxy-3,3-difluoro-α-GalCer analogues: Synthesis and biological evaluation on human iNKT cells stimulation.

iNKT cells recognize CD1d/α-galactosylceramide (α-GalCer) complexes via their invariant TCR receptor and stimulate the immune response. Many α-GalCer analogues have been investigated to interrogate this interaction. Following our previous work related to the modification of the hydrogen bond network between α-GalCer and CD1d, we have now focused our attention on the synthesis of 3-deoxy-3,3-difluoro- and 3,4-dideoxy-3,3,4,4-tetrafluoro-α-GalCer analogues, and studied their ability to stimulate human iNKT cells. In each case, deoxygenation at the indicated positions was accompanied by difluoro introduction in order to evaluate the resulting electronic effect on the stability of the ternary CD1d/Galcer/TCR complex which has been rationalized by modeling study. With deoxy-difluorination at the 3-position, the two epimeric 4-OH analogues were investigated to establish their capacity to compensate for the lack of the hydrogen bond donating group at the 3-position. The 3,4-dideoxytetrafluoro analogue was of interest to highlight the amide NH-bond hydrogen bond properties.

Development of a Solid Phase Array Assay for the Screening of Galactose Oxidase Activity and for Fast Identification of Inhibitors.

BACKGROUND: Galactose oxidase (GOase) catalyses the highly selective oxidation of terminal galactosides on a wide range of natural glycoconjugates and has found wide applications in biotechnology - particularly in biocatalysis. GOase is copper dependent and uses oxygen to oxidise the C6-primary alcohol of galactose and produces hydrogen peroxide. The enzyme activity can be conveniently assessed by a colorimetric assay. OBJECTIVES: The objective of the present study was to develop an assay system, which is independent of the hydrogen peroxide formation to identify possible fluorinated GOase inhibitors. In case that the inhibitor bears a primary or secondary alcohol, it could also be oxidised by the enzyme. In such case, the colorimetric assay is not able to distinguish between substrate and inhibitor, since oxidation of both molecules would result in the formation of hydrogen peroxide. METHODS: D-galactose (D-Gal) was immobilised onto a gold surface functionalised by selfassembled monolayers (SAMs,). A GOase solution was then added to the surface in a droplet for a certain period of time and thereafter washed away. The activity of GOase on the immobilised D-Gal can then be quantified by MALDI-ToF MS. RESULTS: For inhibition studies, GOase was incubated together with 62.5 mM of deoxy-fluorinated monosaccharides on the D-Gal displaying platform. Five deoxy-fluorinated D-Gal showed a >50% inhibition of its activity. The array system has been moreover utilised to determine the apparent IC50 value of 3-F-Gal 15 as a proof of principle. CONCLUSION: The developed array platform allows the fast identification of GOase substrates and inhibitors from a library of deoxy-fluorinated sugars using MALDI-ToF MS as a label-free readout method. In addition, the enzymatic reaction enables for the in situ activation of sugar-coated surfaces to bioorthogonal aldehydes, which can be utilised for subsequent chemical modifications.

Enantioselective Synthesis of Dideoxy-tetrafluorinated Hexoses.

Carbohydrates typically have low affinities to protein binding sites, and the development of carbohydrate mimetics with improved binding is therefore of interest. Tetrafluorination of monosaccharides is one of the strategies currently under investigation for that purpose. The synthesis of the required tetrafluorinated monosaccharides is achieved by a fluorinated building block approach. The enantioselective synthesis of tetrafluorinated hexose derivatives is described here, in both pyranose and furanose forms. In particular, the optimization of the enantioselective synthesis of the previously reported 2,3-dideoxy-2,2,3,3-tetrafluoro-d-threo-hexopyranose 3, 2,3-dideoxy-2,2,3,3-tetrafluoro-d-threo-hexofuranose 4, and 2,3-dideoxy-2,2,3,3-tetrafluoro-d-erythro-hexopyranose 5 is described as is the synthesis of two novel sugar derivatives, 3,4-dideoxy-3,3,4,4-tetrafluoro-d-threo-hexopyranose 6 and 3,4-dideoxy-3,3,4,4-tetrafluoro-d-erythro-hexopyranose 7. The key step of all syntheses is a perfluoroalkyl lithium-mediated C-C bond formation, either intramolecular or intermolecular, which proceeds in good to excellent yields. NMR and X-ray crystallographic analyses of the tetrafluorinated methyl pyranoside derivatives confirm their (4)C1 conformation.

Tetrafluorination of sugars as strategy for enhancing protein-carbohydrate affinity: application to UDP-Galp mutase inhibition.

Tetrafluorinated analogues of both UDP-galactopyranose and UDP-galactofuranose have been synthesized and assayed against UDP-galactopyranose mutase, a key enzyme for Mycobacterium tuberculosis cell wall biosynthesis. Competition assays and STD-NMR spectroscopy techniques have evidenced not only the first unambiguous case of affinity enhancement through local sugar polyfluorination, but also showed that tetrafluorination can still have a beneficial effect on binding when monofluorination at the same position does not.

The conformation of tetrafluorinated methyl galactoside anomers: crystallographic and NMR studies.

The first single-crystal X-ray diffraction study of tetrafluorinated monosaccharide derivatives is presented. Both α- and ß-methyl 2,3-dideoxy-2,2,3,3-tetrafluoro-d-galactopyranoside anomers adopt the (4)C(1) conformation. The values for the C1-O1 and C1-O5 bond lengths and the O5-C1-O1-CH(3) dihedral angles are in line with what can be expected from the anomeric and exo-anomeric effects. The chair conformations are slightly distorted, presumably due to repulsion between 1,3-diaxial C-O and C-F bonds. The asymmetric unit of both compounds contains up to three independent molecules, which differ in the conformation of the hydroxymethyl group (including in one case a 'forbidden'gg rotamer). The molecular packing of the ß-anomer shows a clear segregation between fluorinated and hydrophilic domains, while for the α-anomer the regions of fluorine segregation are broken by interleafing of OMe groups. There is one close OH⋯F contact, which is likely to arise from the crystal packing. NMR studies show that the two anomers also adopt a (4)C(1) conformation in solution (D(2)O, CDCl(3)).