De novo synthesis of novel bacterial monosaccharide fusaminic acid.

Fusobacterium nucleatum is an oral bacteria related to various types of diseases. As Gram-negative bacteria, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of Fusobacterium nucleatum could be a potential virulence factor. Recently, the structure of O-antigen in LPS of Fusobacterium nucleatum strain 25586 was elucidated to contain a trisaccharide repeating unit -(4-ß-Nonp5Am-4-α-L-6dAltpNAc3PCho-3-ß-D-QuipNAc)-. The nonulosonic acid characterized as 5-acetamidino-3,5,9-trideoxy-L-glycero-L-gluco-non-2-ulosonic acid (named as fusaminic acid), and 2-acetamido-2,6-dideoxy-L-altrose are the novel monosaccharides isolated. Herein we report the de novo synthesis of 5-N-acetyl fusaminic acid and the thioglycoside derivative in order to further investigate the biological significance of nonulosonic acids for bacterial pathogenesis.

General and efficient one-pot synthesis of novel sugar/heterocyclic(aryl) 1,2-diketones from sugar terminal alkynes by Sonogashira/tetra-n- butylammonium permanganate oxidation.

A new approach for one-pot synthesis of novel sugar/heterocyclic(aryl) 1,2-diketones has been achieved by the reaction of various sugar terminal alkynes with heterocyclic(aryl) iodides at room temperature. This one-pot protocol includes Sonogashira coupling and mild n-Bu4NMnO4 oxidation reaction. This method is mild, general and efficient. Fifty-six examples have been given and the sugar/heterocyclic(aryl) 1,2-diketones were obtained in 71-94% yields. The sugar terminal alkynes include 9 structurally different sugars in pyranose, furanose, and acyclic form which have various protecting groups, sensitive groups, and sterically bulky substituents. The heterocyclic(aryl) iodides include sterically bulky heterocyclic compounds and iodobenzenes with electron-donating, electron-neutral, and electron-withdrawing substituents.

Facile Enzymatic Synthesis of Ketoses.

Studies of rare ketoses have been hampered by a lack of efficient preparation methods. A convenient, efficient, and cost-effective platform for the facile synthesis of ketoses is described. This method enables the preparation of difficult-to-access ketopentoses and ketohexoses from common and inexpensive starting materials with high yield and purity and without the need for a tedious isomer separation step.

Production of rare sugars from common sugars in subcritical aqueous ethanol.

A new isomerization reaction was developed to synthesize rare ketoses. D-tagatose, D-xylulose, and D-ribulose were obtained in the maximum yields of 24%, 38%, and 40%, respectively, from the corresponding aldoses, D-galactose, D-xylose, and D-ribose, by treating the aldoses with 80% (v/v) subcritical aqueous ethanol at 180°C. The maximum productivity of D-tagatose was ca. 80 g/(Lh). Increasing the concentration of ethanol significantly increased the isomerization of D-galactose. Variation in the reaction temperature did not significantly affect the production of D-tagatose from D-galactose. Subcritical aqueous ethanol converted both 2,3-threo and 2,3-erythro aldoses to the corresponding C-2 ketoses in high yields. Thus, the treatment of common aldoses in subcritical aqueous ethanol can be regarded as a new method to synthesize the corresponding rare sugars.

Catalytic and regioselective oxidation of carbohydrates to synthesize keto-sugars under mild conditions.

A new catalytic and regioselective approach for the synthesis of keto-sugars is described. An organotin catalyst, Oc2SnCl2, in the presence of trimethylphenylammonium tribromide ([TMPhA](+)Br3(-)) accelerates the regioselective oxidation at the "axial"-OH group of 1,2-diol moieties in galactopyranosides. The reaction conditions can also be used for the regioselective oxidation of various carbohydrates.

ZnCl2-mediated practical protocol for the synthesis of Amadori ketoses.

An efficient and practical protocol for the synthesis of Amadori ketoses N-(1-deoxy-D-fructose-1-yl) amino acid (amino acid=L-valine (1), L-leucine (2), L-isoleucine (3), L-tryptophan (4), L-phenylalanine (5), L-arginine (6) has been accomplished by employing ZnCl2 as a catalyst. The developed method circumvents protection and deprotection steps as well as tedious ion-exchange and column chromatographic techniques. The accomplished Amadori ketoses showed moderate to weak angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity.

Expedient and versatile formation of novel amino-deoxy-ketoheptuloses.

Novel monoketoheptuloses have been synthesized employing an amination step in a pre- and/or post-C1 chain elongation using a Petasis reagent by starting from aldohexoses or aldohexosamines. A series of gluco and manno configured 1-/3-deoxy-1-/3-amino-ketohept-2-uloses could be obtained.

One-pot four-enzyme synthesis of ketoses with fructose 1,6-bisphosphate aldolases from Staphylococcus carnosus and rabbit muscle.

By the action of D-fructose 1,6-bisphosphate aldolases (FruA) from rabbit muscle and Staphylococcus carnosus, various ketoses were synthesized from glyceraldehydes or other aliphatic aldehydes as acceptors in a one-pot four-enzyme system.

Exploratory experiments on the chemistry of the "glyoxylate scenario": formation of ketosugars from dihydroxyfumarate.

In the context of a "glyoxylate scenario" of primordial metabolism, the reactions of dihydroxyfumarate (DHF) with reactive small molecule aldehydes (e.g., glyoxylate, formaldehyde, glycolaldehyde, and glyceraldehyde) in water were investigated and shown to form dihydroxyacetone, tetrulose, and the two pentuloses, with almost quantitative conversion. The practically clean and selective formation of ketoses in these reactions, with no detectable admixture of aldoses, stands in stark contrast to the formose reaction, where a complex mixture of linear and branched aldoses and ketoses are produced. These results suggest that the reaction of DHF with aldehydes could constitute a reasonable pathway for the formation of carbohydrates and allow for alternative potential prebiotic scenarios to the formose reaction to be considered.

Development of a chemical strategy to produce rare aldohexoses from ketohexoses using 2-aminopyridine.

Rare sugars are monosaccharides that are found in relatively low abundance in nature. Herein, we describe a strategy for producing rare aldohexoses from ketohexoses using the classical Lobry de Bruyn-Alberda van Ekenstein transformation. Upon Schiff-base formation of keto sugars, a fluorescence-labeling reagent, 2-aminopyridine (2-AP), was used. While acting as a base catalyst, 2-AP efficiently promoted the ketose-to-aldose transformation, and acting as a Schiff-base reagent, it effectively froze the ketose-aldose equilibrium. We could also separate a mixture of Sor, Gul, and Ido in their Schiff-base forms using a normal-phase HPLC separation system. Although Gul and Ido represent the most unstable aldohexoses, our method provides a practical way to rapidly obtain these rare aldohexoses as needed.

Importance of the gating segment in the substrate-recognition loop of pyranose 2-oxidase.

Pyranose 2-oxidase from Trametes multicolor is a 270 kDa homotetrameric enzyme that participates in lignocellulose degradation by wood-rotting fungi and oxidizes a variety of aldopyranoses present in lignocellulose to 2-ketoaldoses. The active site in pyranose 2-oxidase is gated by a highly conserved, conformationally degenerate loop (residues 450-461), with a conformer ensemble that can accommodate efficient binding of both electron-donor substrate (sugar) and electron-acceptor substrate (oxygen or quinone compounds) relevant to the sequential reductive and oxidative half-reactions, respectively. To investigate the importance of individual residues in this loop, a systematic mutagenesis approach was used, including alanine-scanning, site-saturation and deletion mutagenesis, and selected variants were characterized by biochemical and crystal-structure analyses. We show that the gating segment ((454)FSY(456)) of this loop is particularly important for substrate specificity, discrimination of sugar substrates, turnover half-life and resistance to thermal unfolding, and that three conserved residues (Asp(452), Phe(454) and Tyr(456)) are essentially intolerant to substitution. We furthermore propose that the gating segment is of specific importance for the oxidative half-reaction of pyranose 2-oxidase when oxygen is the electron acceptor. Although the position and orientation of the slow substrate 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-glucose when bound in the active site of pyranose 2-oxidase variants is identical to that observed earlier, the substrate-recognition loop in F454N and Y456W displays a high degree of conformational disorder. The present study also lends support to the hypothesis that 1,4-benzoquinone is a physiologically relevant alternative electron acceptor in the oxidative half-reaction.

Effective and chemoselective glycosylations using 2,3-unsaturated sugars.

Glycosyl donors containing a double bond between C2 and C3 were designed by mimicking the reaction mechanism of lysozyme-initiated hydrolysis of mucopolysaccharides. It was found that, under various glycosylation conditions, the reactivities of 2,3-unsaturated glycosyl acetates were significantly higher, while those of the corresponding 2,3-unsaturated-4-keto glycosyl acetates were much lower than those of the corresponding 2,3-dideoxy (2,3-saturated) glycosyl acetates. Based on these results, chemoselective glycosylations were effectively realized via combinatorial techniques in short-steps using three types of glycosyl donors to construct several types of deoxyoligosaccharides. Furthermore, the highly reactive 2,3-unsaturated glycosyl acetates were found to be useful in the synthesis of the O-glycosides of low reactive tertiary alcohols.

Novel carbonyl-group-containing dextran synthesis by pyranose-2-oxidase and dextransucrase.

The carbonyl polysaccharide, keto-dextran, was synthesized by the regioselective oxidation of sucrose and by the subsequent transfer reaction of the oxidized sucrose. The regioselective oxidation of sucrose was performed by bioconversion with pyranose-2-oxidase (EC 1.1.3.10). After 24h, the conversion percentage of sucrose into keto-sucrose was 100% as determined by a colorimetric method with dinitrophenylhydrazine. Converted keto-sucrose was polymerized to keto-dextran by dextransucrase (EC 2.4.1.5). Polymerization of keto-dextran was confirmed by the increase in molecular weight and amount of keto-dextran produced. The amount of keto-dextran produced decreased to 80% of the amount of dextran produced owing to the substrate recognition of DSase. From a Lineweaver-Burk reciprocal plot, the Michaelis constants for sucrose and keto-sucrose were 4.6 mmol L(-1) and 14.0 mmol L(-1), respectively. The keto-dextran had a carbonyl group in all glucose units.

Sugars containing alpha,beta-unsaturated carbonyl systems: synthesis and their usefulness as scaffolds in carbohydrate chemistry.

The alpha,beta-unsaturated carbonyl function occurs in a wide variety of bioactive natural products. It is usually associated with the bioactivities of these compounds and acts as Michael acceptors for the addition of protein nucleophilic groups. The design and synthesis of sugars containing this functionality has provided a wide range of compounds, which can serve as building blocks of high synthetic versatility. This review deals with the chemistry of sugar-based molecules bearing singly linked or fused unsaturated lactones and ketones along with that of pyranoid enones and enonolactones. Examples are given of their syntheses and transformations into a variety of complex sugar derivatives such as branched-chain sugars, C-nucleosides, C-glycosyl derivatives, and various natural products, including selected analogues.

Synthesis, chemical and biological studies on new Fe(3+)-glycosilated beta-diketo complexes for the treatment of iron deficiency.

A simple synthetic pathway to obtain glycosilated beta-diketo derivatives is proposed. These compounds show a good iron(III) affinity therefore we may suggest the use of their Fe(3+)-complexes as oral iron supplements in the treatment of anaemia. The glycosilated compounds (6-GlcH, 6-GlcOH and 6-GlcOCH(3)) are characterized by means of spectroscopic (UV, (1)H and (13)C NMR) and potentiometric techniques; they have a good water solubility, are kinetically stable in physiological condition (t(1/2)>100h) and show a low cytotoxicity also in high concentrations (IC(50)>400 microM). They are able to bind Fe(3+) ion in acid condition (pH approximately 2) forming complex species thermodynamically more stable than those of other ligands commonly used in the treatment of iron deficiency. The iron complexes show also a good kinetic stability both in acidic and physiological pH and have a good lypophilicity (logP>-0.7) that suggests an efficient gastrointestinal absorption in view of their possible use in oral therapy. In addition they demonstrate a poor affinity for competitive biological metal ion such as Ca(2+), and in particular 6-GlcOCH(3) is able to inhibit lipid peroxidation.

Synthesis of methyl 2-acetamido-2,6-dideoxy-alpha- and beta-d-xylo-hexopyranosid-4-ulose, a keto sugar which misled the analytical chemists.

To understand the contradictory results on the structure of the lipopolysaccharide isolated from a Yersinia enterocolitica O:3, both anomers of methyl 2-acetamido-2,6-dideoxy-d-xylo-hexopyranosid-4-ulose were prepared. The key steps of the synthetic pathway were the selective acetylation of the methyl 2-acetamido-2,6-dideoxy-alpha,beta-d-glucopyranosides, the oxidation of the 4-position to form the keto-sugars, and deacetylation to provide the target compound. Surprisingly, the last step was accompanied by a disproportionation to give methyl 2-acetamido-2,6-dideoxy-alpha- and beta-d-glucopyranosides and N-(5-hydroxy-6-methyl-4-oxo-4H-pyran-3-yl)acetamide as side-products.

Stereoselective synthesis of a ketohexofuranose from an aldohexopyranose by a [6+1-1] strategy.

Ozonolysis of 2-acetoxymethyl-1,5-anhydro-3,4,6-tri-O-benzyl-2-deoxy-D-arabino-hex-1-enitol gave 1-O-acetyl-3,4,6-tri-O-benzyl-4-O-formyl-D-arabino-hex-2-ulose (5). Subsequent hydrolysis and acetylation of 5 provided 1,2-di-O-acetyl-3,4,6-tri-O-benzyl-D-fructofuranose 6 in excellent yield. This methodology allows specific deuteration at C-1 of a protected D-fructofuranose derivative. This approach therefore could serve as [6+1-1] formulation for hexose series inter-conversion, that is, aldohexopyranose to ketohexofuranose.

Convenient preparation of L-arabino-hexos-5-ulose derivatives from lactose.

2,6-di-O-benzyl- (9), 2-O-benzyl-3,4-O-isopropylidene- (19), and 2-O-benzyl-6-O-m-chlorobenzoyl-L-arabino-hexos-5-ulose (20) have been prepared using 4'-deoxy-4'-eno- and 6'-deoxy-5'-eno lactose dimethyl acetal derivatives 7 and 14 as key intermediates. The synthesis of enol ethers 7 and 14 has been performed with good yields by base-promoted elimination of acetone or p-toluenesulfonic acid from 2',6'-di-O-benzyl-, and 6'-O-p-toluenesulfonyl-2,3:5,6:3',4'-tri-O-isopropylidenelactose dimethyl acetal, respectively. The epoxidation with MCPBA of 7 and 14 in methanol or dichloromethane furnishes C-5'-methoxy and C-5'-m-chlorobenzoyloxy derivatives, easily transformed with good yields into L-arabino 5-ketoaldohexoses 9, 19 and 20.

Synthesis of 3-hexuloses from 1,2:5,6-di-O-isopropylidenehexitols.

A simple, but low-yielding method for the synthesis of 3-hexuloses has been elaborated. Oxidation of 1,2:5,6-di-O-isopropylidenehexitols with bromine in the presence of barium carbonate, followed by mild-acid hydrolysis of the oxidation products gave the free hexuloses. Oxidation occurred at only one of the carbon atoms bearing free hydroxyl groups. From the D-mannitol derivative, D-arabino-3-hexulose was obtained via the di-O-isopropylidene derivative, whereas the D-glucitol derivative gave a mixture of the 1,2:5,6-di-O-isoprpylidene derivatives of L-xylo- and D-ribo-3-hexulose, separable by column chromatography. Mild-acid hydrolysis of the oxidation products afforded the free hexuloses.

Synthesis of 1-deoxy-D-erythro-hexo-2,3-diulose, a major hexose Maillard intermediate.

1-Deoxy-D-erythro-hexo-2,3-diulose (1-DG) was prepared by the reaction of ethoxyvinyllithium with an erythronolactone derivative. Characterization by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy and NOE difference experiments revealed the 2C5-chair beta-pyranose as the major isomer in solution. Experiments assessing browning and polymerization reactivity proved 1-DG to be a much more potent protein modifier than 3-deoxy-D-erythro-hexos-2-ulose.