Trifluoroacetic acid-promoted ring contraction in 2,3-di-O-silylated O-galactopyranosides and hemiacetals

A pyranose ring contraction of 2,3-di-O-silylated O-galactopyranosides with retention of aglycone promoted by anhydrous trifluoroacetyc acid (TFA) in CH2Cl2 was demonstrated for the first time. In addition, TFA-promoted pyranose ring contraction of 2,3-bis-O-(triisopropylsilyl)-D-galactopyranose with formation of the corresponding anomeric triols in furanose form was successfully performed. A representative series of β-D-galactopyranosides with Me, Bn, allyl, or 3-(trifluoroacetamido)propyl aglycones has been investigated. TBDPS protective groups were found to be more stable than TIPS groups under conditions of TFA-promoted pyranose ring contraction. An easy access to 2,3-di-O-TBDPS substituted allyl and benzyl galactofuranosides and 2,3-bis-O-(triisopropylsilyl)-β-D-galactofuranose may present an advantage in synthesis of selectively protected monosacharide bilding blocks, useful for the synthesis of biologically important oligosaccharides.

Exopolysaccharides from the Energy Microalga Strain Botryococcus braunii: Purification, Characterization, and Antioxidant Activity

Botryococcus braunii, a prestigious energy microalga, has recently received widespread attention because it can secrete large amounts of exopolysaccharides (EPS) with potential applications in food, cosmetics, and nutraceuticals. Unfortunately, the insufficiency of research on the bioactivity and structure–activity relationship of B. braunii EPS has impeded the downstream applications. In the present study, alcohol precipitation, deproteinization, and DEAE-cellulose column chromatography were used to extract and purify B. braunii SCS-1905 EPS. It was found that B. braunii SCS-1905 EPS were high-molecular-weight heteropolysaccharides containing uronic acid (7.43–8.83%), protein (2.30–4.04%), and sulfate groups (1.52–1.95%). Additionally, the EPS primarily comprised galactose (52.34–54.12%), glucose (34.60–35.53%), arabinose (9.41–10.32%), and minor amounts of fucose (1.80–1.99%), with the presence of a pyranose ring linked by a β-configurational glycosidic bond. Notably, the antioxidant activity of crude exopolysaccharides (CEPS) was stronger, and the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) for ABTS and hydroxyl radicals was significantly lower than that of deproteinized exopolysaccharides (DEPS). Overall, this study indicated a potential application of B. braunii SCS-1905 EPS as a natural antioxidant. In summary, B. braunii EPS could be used as a potential feedstock for the production of antioxidant health foods.

Towards a Total Synthesis of Peloruside A and the Preparation of Selected Inositol Derivatives

<p>This thesis covers two broad areas of work under the general theme of the synthesis of bioactive and/or synthetically useful compounds based on natural products or deriving from the chiral pool. Chapters one, two and three focus on the marine secondary metabolite peloruside A (1), which has been shown to stabilise microtubules during mitosis and hence cause apoptosis (cell death) in a similar manner to the very successful anticancer drug Taxol. A synthetic program with the aim of devising a total synthesis was initiated at Victoria University of Wellington after peloruside A's discovery in 1999. Four synthetic disconnects were identified in the retrosynthetic analysis of peloruside A: to give the C-l to C-2 fragment; the C-3 to C-7 fragment; the C-8 to C-11 fragments; and the C-12 to C-24 fragment. The C-7 to C-8 bond was to be formed via an asymmetric aldol reaction to give the pyranose ring fragment (highlighted in blue). In this thesis, the synthesis of the C-3 to C-7 fragment is described. A1do1 reactions with the C-8 to C- 11 ketone have been investigated, and subsequent progress towards the assembly of the pyranose ring fragment is presented. Chapters four, five, six and seven describe the preparation of selected synthetically and biologically useful derivatives of the commercially available inositols, quebrachitol (L-chiro-inositol-2-methyl ether) and myo-inositol. The butane di-acetal (BDA) derivatives 293, 300, and 301 (as well as acetylated and methylated derivatives thereof) were prepared during work directed towards the synthesis of the inositol core of a phosphatidylinositol manno-oligosaccharide (PIM-6) isolated from Mycobacterium bovis and M. smegmatis. Quebrachitol derivatives 305, 306 and 307 were prepared and subsequently tested against myoinositol (the optimal competitor) in biological uptake assays of the microorganisms, Candida albicans and Leishmania donovani. For both microorganisms, the mono- and di-O-methylated L-chiro-inositol derivatives 307 and 305, as well as quebrachitol, gave significant inhibition results, with P values from P < 0.001 to P < 0.05 for paired-sample t-test analyses, i.e.99.9% to 95% confidence for significant inhibition, respectively. The benzoylated derivative 306 did not induce any inhibition of myo-inositol uptake. Myo-inositol is the most abundant of the inositols in nature and is readily available. However, as it is a meso compound, one of the key challenges in the use of myoinositol as a synthetic precursor is an efficient resolution method. The formation of myo-inositol camphanylidene acetal 269a is one successful solution, and work done in an attempt to better understand the selectivity of the reaction is reported here. Also, process development work was done to adapt the preparation so that it was suitable for scale-up, and a subsequent large scale synthesis of the acetal was undertaken. Previously unpublished X-ray crystal structures were obtained for 269a and, for two of the diastereomeric impurities of the reaction.</p>

Towards a Total Synthesis of Peloruside A and the Preparation of Selected Inositol Derivatives

<p>This thesis covers two broad areas of work under the general theme of the synthesis of bioactive and/or synthetically useful compounds based on natural products or deriving from the chiral pool. Chapters one, two and three focus on the marine secondary metabolite peloruside A (1), which has been shown to stabilise microtubules during mitosis and hence cause apoptosis (cell death) in a similar manner to the very successful anticancer drug Taxol. A synthetic program with the aim of devising a total synthesis was initiated at Victoria University of Wellington after peloruside A's discovery in 1999. Four synthetic disconnects were identified in the retrosynthetic analysis of peloruside A: to give the C-l to C-2 fragment; the C-3 to C-7 fragment; the C-8 to C-11 fragments; and the C-12 to C-24 fragment. The C-7 to C-8 bond was to be formed via an asymmetric aldol reaction to give the pyranose ring fragment (highlighted in blue). In this thesis, the synthesis of the C-3 to C-7 fragment is described. A1do1 reactions with the C-8 to C- 11 ketone have been investigated, and subsequent progress towards the assembly of the pyranose ring fragment is presented. Chapters four, five, six and seven describe the preparation of selected synthetically and biologically useful derivatives of the commercially available inositols, quebrachitol (L-chiro-inositol-2-methyl ether) and myo-inositol. The butane di-acetal (BDA) derivatives 293, 300, and 301 (as well as acetylated and methylated derivatives thereof) were prepared during work directed towards the synthesis of the inositol core of a phosphatidylinositol manno-oligosaccharide (PIM-6) isolated from Mycobacterium bovis and M. smegmatis. Quebrachitol derivatives 305, 306 and 307 were prepared and subsequently tested against myoinositol (the optimal competitor) in biological uptake assays of the microorganisms, Candida albicans and Leishmania donovani. For both microorganisms, the mono- and di-O-methylated L-chiro-inositol derivatives 307 and 305, as well as quebrachitol, gave significant inhibition results, with P values from P < 0.001 to P < 0.05 for paired-sample t-test analyses, i.e.99.9% to 95% confidence for significant inhibition, respectively. The benzoylated derivative 306 did not induce any inhibition of myo-inositol uptake. Myo-inositol is the most abundant of the inositols in nature and is readily available. However, as it is a meso compound, one of the key challenges in the use of myoinositol as a synthetic precursor is an efficient resolution method. The formation of myo-inositol camphanylidene acetal 269a is one successful solution, and work done in an attempt to better understand the selectivity of the reaction is reported here. Also, process development work was done to adapt the preparation so that it was suitable for scale-up, and a subsequent large scale synthesis of the acetal was undertaken. Previously unpublished X-ray crystal structures were obtained for 269a and, for two of the diastereomeric impurities of the reaction.</p>

Composition and Corrosivity of Extracellular Polymeric Substances from The Hydrocarbon-Degrading Sulfate-Reducing Bacterium Desulfoglaeba alkanexedens ALDC

Sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) often exist as cell aggregates and in biofilms surrounded by a matrix of extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs). The chemical composition of EPSs may facilitate hydrophobic substrate biodegradation and promote microbial influenced corrosion (MIC). Although EPSs from non-hydrocarbon-degrading SRB have been studied; the chemical composition of EPSs from hydrocarbon-degrading SRBs has not been reported. The isolated EPSs from the sulfate-reducing alkane-degrading bacterium Desulfoglaeba alkanexedens ALDC was characterized with scanning and fluorescent microscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), and by colorimetric chemical assays. Specific fluorescent staining and 1H NMR spectroscopy revealed that the fundamental chemical structure of the EPS produced by D. alkanexedens is composed of pyranose polysaccharide and cyclopentanone in a 2:1 ratio. NMR analyses indicated that the pyranose ring structure is bonded by 1,4 connections with the cyclopentanone directly bonded to one pyranose ring. The presence of cyclopentanone presumably increases the hydrophobicity of the EPS that may facilitate the accessibility of hydrocarbon substrates to aggregating cells or cells in a biofilm. Weight loss and iron dissolution experiments demonstrated that the EPS did not contribute to the corrosivity of D. alkanexedens cells.

Characterization of polysaccharides from Eremurus hissaricus roots by FTIR spectroscopy

The structure of water'soluble gluco' and galactomannans (GlcMan and GalMan) isolated from the roots of several Eremurus'related plant species has been studied previously. This article characterizes polysaccharides and other extraction products from the root tubers of Eremurus hissaricus by Fourier' transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy using an attenuated total reflectance (ATR) accessory. Polysaccharide samples were purified from protein substances with the Sevage method and discoloured through a polyamide column. In the FTIR spectra, the main peaks attributed to asymmetric and symmetric stretching vibrations of CH2 of the pyranose ring (for GluMan - 2886, 1373, 1244 cm-1; for GalGluMan - 2923, 1370, 1238 cm-1) were enhanced by purification after removing bound protein impurities. The KnownitAll and IR-Pal 2 software applications were used to examine the spectra of a sample of purified GalGluMan in the studied polysaccharides. The results show that the intensity of the absorption maximum decreased at 1732 cm-1. At the same time, at 1552.92 cm-1, a new band appeared that refers to the valence vibrations of carboxyl (CO) or nitroso (NO) groups in the purified polysaccharide. This band appeared as a result of the Maillard reaction between the protein and the reducing end of the polysaccharide unit. The intensity of the bands in the 1238-1244 cm-1 region also decreased in the purified samples, which may be due to the elimination of a small fraction of protein. The use of FTIR spectroscopy allows the process of purifying watersoluble GluMan and acid-soluble polysaccharide of GalGluMan from acrylamide impurities to be characterized timely and accurately. Additionally, this method allows a comparative estimation of functional groups in polysaccharides of the root tubers of E. hissaricus.

Experimental and Computational Studies on Structure and Energetic Properties of Halogen Derivatives of 2-Deoxy-D-Glucose

The results of structural studies on a series of halogen-substituted derivatives of 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) are reported. 2-DG is an inhibitor of glycolysis, a metabolic pathway crucial for cancer cell proliferation and viral replication in host cells, and interferes with D-glucose and D-mannose metabolism. Thus, 2-DG and its derivatives are considered as potential anticancer and antiviral drugs. X-ray crystallography shows that a halogen atom present at the C2 position in the pyranose ring does not significantly affect its conformation. However, it has a noticeable effect on the crystal structure. Fluorine derivatives exist as a dense 3D framework isostructural with the parent compound, while Cl- and I-derivatives form layered structures. Analysis of the Hirshfeld surface shows formation of hydrogen bonds involving the halogen, yet no indication for the existence of halogen bonds. Density functional theory (DFT) periodic calculations of cohesive and interaction energies (at the B3LYP level of theory) have supported these findings. NMR studies in the solution show that most of the compounds do not display significant differences in their anomeric equilibria, and that pyranose ring puckering is similar to the crystalline state. For 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-glucose (2-FG), electrostatic interaction energies between the ligand and protein for several existing structures of pyranose 2-oxidase were also computed. These interactions mostly involve acidic residues of the protein; single amino-acid substitutions have only a minor impact on binding. These studies provide a better understanding of the structural chemistry of halogen-substituted carbohydrates as well as their intermolecular interactions with proteins determining their distinct biological activity.

Functionalization of an Alginate-Based Material by Oxidation and Reductive Amination

This research focused on the synthesis of a functional alginate-based material via chemical modification processes with two steps: oxidation and reductive amination. In previous alginate functionalization with a target molecule such as cysteine, the starting material was purified and characterized by UV-Vis, 1H-NMR and HSQC. Additionally, the application of FT-IR techniques during each step of alginate functionalization was very useful, since new bands and spiked signals around the pyranose ring (1200–1000 cm−1) and anomeric region (1000–750 cm−1) region were identified by a second derivative. Additionally, the presence of C1-H1 of β-D-mannuronic acid residue as well as C1-H1 of α-L-guluronic acid residue was observed in the FT-IR spectra, including a band at 858 cm−1 with characteristics of the N-H moiety from cysteine. The possibility of attaching cysteine molecules to an alginate backbone by oxidation and post-reductive amination processes was confirmed through 13C-NMR in solid state; a new peak at 99.2 ppm was observed, owing to a hemiacetal group formed in oxidation alginate. Further, the peak at 31.2 ppm demonstrates the presence of carbon -CH2-SH in functionalized alginate—clear evidence that cysteine was successfully attached to the alginate backbone, with 185 μmol of thiol groups per gram polymer estimated in alginate-based material by UV-Visible. Finally, it was observed that guluronic acid residue of alginate are preferentially more affected than mannuronic acid residue in the functionalization.

Entropic-Based Separation of Diastereomers: Size-Exclusion Chromatography with Online Viscometry and Refractometry Detection for Analysis of Blends of Mannose and Galactose Methyl-α-pyranosides at “Ideal” Size-Exclusion Conditions

The separation of carbohydrate diastereomers by an ideal size-exclusion mechanism, i.e., in the absence of enthalpic contributions to the separation, can be considered one of the grand challenges in chromatography: Can a difference in the location of a single axial hydroxy group on a pyranose ring (e.g., the axial OH being located on carbon 2 versus on carbon 4 of the ring) sufficiently affect the solution conformational entropy of a monosaccharide in a manner which allows for members of a diastereomeric pair to be separated from each other by size-exclusion chromatography (SEC)? Previous attempts at answering this question, for aqueous solutions, have been thwarted by the mutarotation of sugars in water. Here, the matter is addressed by employing the non-mutarotating methyl-α-pyranosides of d-mannose and d-galactose. We show for the first time, using SEC columns, the entropically driven separation of members of this diastereomeric pair, at a resolution of 1.2–1.3 and with only a 0.4–1% change in solute distribution coefficient over a 25 °C range, thereby demonstrating the ideality of the separation. It is also shown how the newest generation of online viscometer allows for improved sensitivity, thereby extending the range of this so-called molar-mass-sensitive detector into the monomeric regime. Detector multidimensionality is showcased via the synergism of online viscometry and refractometry, which combine to measure the intrinsic viscosity and viscometric radius of the sugars continually across the elution profiles of each diastereomer, methyl-α-d-mannopyranoside and methyl-α-d-galactopyranoside.

Anomerisation of Fluorinated Sugars by Mutarotase Studied Using 19F NMR Two-Dimensional Exchange Spectroscopy

Five 19F-substituted glucose analogues were used to probe the activity and mechanism of the enzyme mutarotase by using magnetisation-exchange NMR spectroscopy. The sugars (2-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose, FDG2; 3-fluoro-3-deoxy-d-glucose, FDG3; 4-fluoro-4-deoxy-d-glucose, FDG4; 2,3-difluoro-2,3-dideoxy-d-glucose, FDG23; and 2,2,3,3-tetrafluoro-2,3-dideoxy-d-glucose (2,3-dideoxy-2,2,3,3-tetrafluoro-d-erythro-hexopyranose), FDG2233) showed separate 19F NMR spectroscopic resonances from their respective α- and β-anomers, thus allowing two-dimensional exchange spectroscopy measurements of the anomeric interconversion at equilibrium, on the time scale of a few seconds. Mutarotase catalysed the rapid exchange between the anomers of FDG4, but not the other four sugars. This finding, combined with previous work identifying the mechanism of the anomerisation by mutarotase, suggests that the rotation around the C1–C2 bond of the pyranose ring is the rate-limiting reaction step. In addition to d-glucose itself, it was shown that all other fluorinated sugars inhibited the FDG4 anomerisation, with the tetrafluorinated FDG2233 being the most potent inhibitor. Inhibition of mutarotase by F-sugars paves the way for the development of novel fluorinated compounds that are able to affect the activity of this enzyme invitro and invivo.