Mono- vs. di-fluorous-tagged glucosamines for iterative oligosaccharide synthesis

Fluorous-tagged protecting groups are attractive tools for elongating carbohydrate chains in oligosaccharide synthesis. To eliminate the accumulation of failed sequences during automated oligosaccharide synthesis conditions, an additional C₈F₁₇ ester derived protecting group was attached to the glycosyl donor to better retain the desired doubly tagged glycosylation product on fluorous solid-phase extraction (FSPE) cartridges. Initial studies show that the double-fluorous-tagging strategy offers a robust enough separation using a commercial FSPE cartridge using simple gravity filtration to separate the desired product from the singly fluorous-tagged starting materials and their decomposition products. In addition, removal of the fluorous acetate and its by-products after sodium methoxide treatment and neutralization required only dissolution of the desired sugar in toluene and subsequent removal of the toluene layer from the denser fluorous by-products.