Total synthesis of kendomycin: a macro-C-glycosidation approach.

Kendomycin, also known as (-)-TAN 2162, is a novel polyketide-derived ansamycin isolated from Streptomyces sp., which exhibits potent antagonist and agonist activities at the endothelin and calcitonin receptors, respectively. This bacterial metabolite also possesses a strong antibiotic activity against a range of gram-positive and -negative bacteria and cytostatic effects on the growth of human cancer cell lines. When a novel macroglycosidation reaction is employed as the key step, the first enantioselective total synthesis of kendomycin has been accomplished. A Friedel-Crafts-type ring closure of the acyclic precursor containing tetrahydropyran and benzofuran moieties produces the macrocycle as a single stereoisomer in good yield, thus establishing the aryl C-glycosidic linkage of the ansa core. This reaction requires a phenolic glycosyl acceptor and appears to proceed through a rapid O-glycosidation followed by a slow rearrangement to an aryl C-glycoside. The requisite secomacrocycle is prepared by the Pd(0)-catalyzed B-alkyl Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling of two subunits, which in turn can be expeditiously assembled from readily available building blocks in a modular fashion.

Stereoselective palladium-catalyzed O-glycosylation using glycals.

A highly stereoselective palladium-catalyzed O-glycosylation reaction is described. The reaction of a glycal 3-acetate or carbonate with the zinc(II) alkoxide of acceptors establishes the glycosidic linkage under palladium catalysis to give rise to disaccharides as the product in good yields and with high stereoselectivity. In contrast to the Lewis acid mediated Ferrier procedure, the anomeric stereochemistry of this reaction is controlled by the employed ligand. Whereas the use of a complex of palladium acetate and 2-di(tert-butyl)phosphinobiphenyl as the catalyst results in the exclusive beta-glycoside formation, the same reaction using trimethyl phosphite ligand furnishes an alpha-anomer as the major product. The utility of the 2,3-unsaturation present in the resulting glycoside is demonstrated by the further transformations such as dihydroxylation, hydration, and hydrogenation reactions. Thus, the combination of the glycosylation and subsequent functionalization provides a novel entry to saccharides which are otherwise difficult to prepare. The broad scope of the process, mildness of the reaction conditions, and experimental simplicity should make this method a useful tool in synthetic carbohydrate chemistry.

Intrinsic lipid preferences and kinetic mechanism of Escherichia coli MurG.

MurG, the last enzyme involved in the intracellular phase of peptidoglycan synthesis, is a membrane-associated glycosyltransferase that couples N-acetyl glucosamine to the C4 hydroxyl of a lipid-linked N-acetyl muramic acid derivative (lipid I) to form the beta-linked disaccharide (lipid II) that is the minimal subunit of peptidoglycan. Lipid I is anchored to the bacterial membrane by a 55 carbon undecaprenyl chain. Because this long lipid chain impedes kinetic analysis of MurG, we have been investigating alternative substrates containing shortened lipid chains. We now describe the intrinsic lipid preferences of MurG and show that the optimal substrate for MurG in the absence of membranes is not the natural substrate. Thus, while the undecaprenyl carrier lipid may be critical for certain steps in the biosynthetic pathway to peptidoglycan, it is not required-in fact, is not preferred-by MurG. Using synthetic substrate analogues and products containing different length lipid chains, as well as a synthetic dead-end acceptor analogue, we have also shown that MurG follows a compulsory ordered Bi Bi mechanism in which the donor sugar binds first. This information should facilitate obtaining crystals of MurG with substrates bound, an important goal because MurG belongs to a major superfamily of NDP-glycosyltransferases for which no structures containing intact substrates have yet been solved.