Highly efficient α-C-sialylation promoted by (p-Tol)2SO/Tf2O with N-acetyl-5-N,4-O-oxazolidione protected thiosialoside as donor.

Based on a preactivation protocol with (p-Tol)2SO/Tf2O, a practical, straightforward, and high-yielding synthesis of α-sialyl C-glycosides was accomplished by coupling N-acetyl-5-N,4-O-oxazolidione protected thiosialoside with various trimethylsilyl enol ethers and allyltrimethylsilanes. High yields and excellent α-selectivities were obtained for the strong π-nucleophiles with large nucleophilicity values (N = 4.4-9.0), irrespective of whether silyl enol ethers, silyl ketene acetals or allyltrimethylsilanes were used for the electrophilic C-sialylation.

Iron(II)-catalyzed asymmetric intramolecular olefin aminochlorination using chloride ion.

An iron-catalyzed enantioselective and diastereoselective intramolecular olefin aminochlorination reaction is reported (ee up to 92%, dr up to 15 : 1). In this reaction, a functionalized hydroxylamine and chloride ion are utilized as nitrogen and chlorine sources, respectively. This new method tolerates a range of synthetically valuable internal olefins that are all incompatible with existing asymmetric olefin aminochlorination methods.

Synthesis and labeling of α-(2,9)-trisialic acid with cyanine dyes for imaging of glycan-binding receptors on living cells.

A sugar epitope, α-(2,9)-trisialic acid, was synthesized and labeled by cyanine dyes through Cu(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC). The cyanine tagged oligosialic acid can be utilized as an efficient fluorescent probe to image the glycan-binding receptors on PC-12 cells. The distribution of Sia-binding immunoglobulin-like lectins (Siglecs) for α-(2,9)-trisialic acid was visualized by Cy3/Cy5 or FRET channel fluorescence imaging.

Comparative studies on the O-sialylation with four different α/ß-oriented (N-acetyl)-5-N,4-O-carbonyl-protected p-toluenethiosialosides as donors.

Four types of 5-N,4-O-carbonyl-protected p-toluenethiosialosides were synthesized and their couplings with different acceptors were thoroughly investigated. The results indicate that the sialyl donor structure, the amount of glycosyl acceptor, and the detailed promotion conditions have great influence on the sialylation stereoselectivties and product yields. Under the (p-Tol)2SO/Tf2O activation conditions, the glycosylations with simple alcohols provided declined α-selectivities and higher yields with increasing the amounts of acceptors from 1.1 equiv to 2.0equiv. However, the outcome of same sialylation was independent of the relative amounts of sugar alcohol acceptors. With NIS/TfOH as promoter, the α-selectivities of the sialylations were significantly improved compared with the cases activated by (p-Tol)2SO/Tf2O. In general, the difference in configuration of N-acetylated sialyl donors (D2 and D4) has little effect on the sialylation yield and stereoselectivity. In contrast, the N-deacetylated α/ß sialyl donors (D1 and D3) show complex sialylation profiles with different acceptors.

N-acetyl-5-N,4-O-oxazolidinone-protected sialyl sulfoxide: an α-selective sialyl donor with Tf2O/(Tol)2SO in dichloromethane.

Sweet as sugar: Sialyl sulfoxide protected by N-acetyl-5-N,4-O-oxazolidinone was readily prepared, and its coupling to various sugar acceptors was investigated. When the reaction was promoted by Tf(2)O/(Tol)(2)SO, efficient and highly α-selective sialylation yielded α(2,6), α(2,3), and α(2,4) glycosidic linkages between sialic acid and glucose/glacotose.

Tunable stereoselectivity during sialylation using an N-acetyl-5-N,4-O-oxazolidinone-protected p-toluene 2-thio-sialoside donor with Tf(2)O/Ph(2)SO/TTBPy.

An N-acetyl-5-N,4-O-oxazolidinone-protected p-toluene 2-thio-sialoside donor, promoted by Ph(2)SO/Tf(2)O/TTBPy, was thoroughly investigated in the coupling to various acceptors. The stereoselectivity of the sialylation was found to be dependent on the various reaction conditions, such as pre-activation time, reaction time, the amount of Ph(2)SO, and TTBPy. A detailed Ph(2)SO/Tf(2)O-promoted glycosylation mechanism was proposed, which contained three crucial reactive species: an oxacarbenium ion, C2-sialyloxosulfonium salts, and oxosulfonium supramers. Our research results indicate that it is possible to tune the stereoselectivity of the sialylation by carefully changing the reaction conditions. For instance, Ph(2)SO (2.0-3.0 equiv)/TTBPy (0-1.0 equiv) promotion gives higher α-selective sialylation in dichloromethane, while Ph(2)SO (4-5 equiv)/TTBPy (0 equiv) or Ph(2)SO (2.0 equiv)/TTBPy (2.0 equiv) affords lower stereoselectivity.