Synthesis of galactofuranose-containing acceptor substrates for mycobacterial galactofuranosyltransferases

The major structural component of the cell wall in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, infection by which causes tuberculosis, is the mycolyl-arabinogalactan (mAG) complex. This large glycoconjugates has at its core a backbone of approximately 30 D-galactofuranose (Gal(f)) residues that are linked to peptidoglycan by way of a linker disaccharide containing L-rhamnose and 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucose. Recent studies have supported a model of galactan biosynthesis in which the entire structure is assembled by the action of two bifunctional galactofuranosyltransferases. These biochemical investigations were made possible, in part, by access to a panel of oligosaccharide fragments of the mAG complex (1-12), the synthesis of which we describe here. An early key finding in this study was that the iodine-promoted cyclization of galactose diethyl dithioacetal (19) in the presence of an alcohol solvent led to the formation Gal(f) glycosides contaminated with no pyranoside isomer, thus allowing the efficient preparation of furanoside derivatives of this monosaccharide. The synthesis of disaccharide targets 1, 2, 11 and 12 proceeded without difficulty through the use of thioglycoside donors and octyl glycoside acceptors, both carrying benzoyl protection. In the synthesis of the tri- and tetrasaccharides 3-6, we explored routes in which the molecule was assembled from the reducing to nonreducing end, and the reverse. The latter approach was found to be preferable for the preparation of 6, and in the case of 3 and 4, this strategy allowed the development of efficient one-pot methods for their synthesis. We have also carried out the first synthesis of three mAG fragments (8-10) consisting of the linker disaccharide further elaborated with one, two or three Gal(f) residues. A key step in the synthesis of these target compounds was the coupling of a protected linker disaccharide derivative (58) with a mono-, di-, or trigalactofuranosyl thioglycoside (17, 54, or 53, respectively).