A synthetic strategy to xylose-containing thioglycoside tri- and tetrasaccharide building blocks corresponding to Cryptococcus neoformans capsular polysaccharide structures.

As part of an ongoing project aimed at developing vaccine candidates against Cryptococcus neoformans the preparation of tri- and tetrasaccharide thioglycoside building blocks, to be used in construction of structurally defined part structures of C. neoformans GXM capsular polysaccharide, was investigated. Using a naphthalenylmethyl (NAP) ether as a temporary protecting group and trichloroacetimidate donors in optimized glycosylations the target building blocks, ethyl 6-O-acetyl-2,4-di-O-benzyl-3-O-(2-naphthalenylmethyl)-α-D-mannopyranosyl-(1→3)-[2,3,4-tri-O-benzyl-ß-D-xylopyranosyl-(1→2)]-4,6-di-O-benzyl-1-thio-α-D-mannopyranoside (16) and ethyl 2,3,4-tri-O-benzyl-ß-D-xylopyranosyl-(1→2)-4,6-di-O-benzyl-3-O-(2-naphthalenylmethyl)-α-D-mannopyranosyl-(1→3)-[2,3,4-tri-O-benzyl-ß-D-xylopyra-nosyl-(1→2)]-6-O-acetyl-4-O-benzyl-1-thio-α-D-mannopyranoside (21), were efficiently prepared. These synthesized thiosaccharide building blocks were then used as donors in high-yielding (~90%) DMTST promoted glycosylations to a spacer-containing acceptor to, after deprotection, afford GXM polysaccharide part structures ready for protein conjugation to give vaccine candidates. Also, the NAP groups in the building blocks were removed to obtain tri- and tetrasaccharide acceptors suitable for further elongation towards larger thiosaccharide building blocks.

Role of water molecules in structure and energetics of Pseudomonas aeruginosa lectin I interacting with disaccharides.

Calcium-dependent lectin I from Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA-IL) binds specifically to oligosaccharides presenting an alpha-galactose residue at their nonreducing end, such as the disaccharides alphaGal1-2betaGalOMe, alphaGal1-3betaGalOMe, and alphaGal1-4betaGalOMe. This provides a unique model for studying the effect of the glycosidic linkage of the ligands on structure and thermodynamics of the complexes by means of experimental and theoretical tools. The structural features of PA-IL in complex with the three disaccharides were established by docking and molecular dynamics simulations and compared with those observed in available crystal structures, including PA-IL.alphaGal1-2betaGalOMe complex, which was solved at 2.4 A resolution and reported herein. The role of a structural bridge water molecule in the binding site of PA-IL was also elucidated through molecular dynamics simulations and free energy calculations. This water molecule establishes three very stable hydrogen bonds with O6 of nonreducing galactose, oxygen from Pro-51 main chain, and nitrogen from Gln-53 main chain of the lectin binding site. Binding free energies for PA-IL in complex with the three disaccharides were investigated, and the results were compared with the experimental data determined by titration microcalorimetry. When the bridge water molecule was included in the free energy calculations, the simulations predicted the correct binding affinity trends with the 1-2-linked disaccharide presenting three times stronger affinity ligand than the other two. These results highlight the role of the water molecule in the binding site of PA-IL and indicate that it should be taken into account when designing glycoderivatives active against P. aeruginosa adhesion.

Variant synthetic pathway to glucuronic acid-containing di- and trisaccharide thioglycoside building blocks for continued synthesis of Cryptococcus neoformans capsular polysaccharide structures.

An alternative pathway to glucuronic acid-containing di- and trisaccharide thioglycoside building blocks, suitable for the synthesis of Cryptococcus neoformans capsular polysaccharide structures, has been developed. As opposed to our earlier synthesis, this approach features the introduction of the glucuronic acid motif at the di- and trisaccharide level through oxidation of a glucose residue. This approach circumvents problems encountered in glycosylations with glucuronic acid donors and benzylation of glucuronic acid-containing derivatives. Selective protection of primary alcohols was obtained at the di- and trisaccharide stage using TBDMS or trityl protecting groups, respectively. After benzylation of the secondary hydroxyl groups and subsequent removal of the TBDMS or trityl group, oxidation of the free primary alcohols to carboxylic acids was performed in high yield using the TEMPO-BAIB reagent mixture, which does not tend to oxidize thioglycosides. The new approach requires a number of extra steps, but has proven to be more reliable and easily reproducible.