Synthetic 3-O-methylmannose-containing polysaccharides (sMMPs): design and synthesis

With the hope of mimicking the chemical and biological properties of natural 3-O-methylmannose-containing polysaccharides (MMPs), synthetic 3-O-methylmannose-containing polysaccharides (sMMPs) were designed and synthesized in a convergent manner. With little modification of the Mukaiyama glycosidation, high alpha-selectivity (>50:1 approximately >20:1) and yields (79 approximately 74%) were achieved for the key glycosidation steps. The exceptionally high alpha-selectivity observed was shown to be consequent to the selective anomerization of beta- to alpha-anomer under the glycosidation conditions. This glycosidation is well suited for a highly convergent oligosaccharide synthesis, particularly because of excellent chemical yields even when using approximately equal-sized donors and acceptors in an approximately 1:1 molar ratio. An iterative reaction sequence allowed the growing oligosaccharide to double in size after each cycle and led to an efficient synthesis of sMMP 8-, 12-, and 16-mers 18-20.