An improved chemo-enzymatic synthesis of 1-beta-O-acyl glucuronides: highly chemoselective enzymatic removal of protecting groups from corresponding methyl acetyl derivatives

An improved and widely applicable chemo-enzymatic method for the synthesis of a series of 1-beta-O-acyl glucuronides 5a-f has been developed from the corresponding methyl acetyl derivatives 3a-f, which were stereospecifically synthesized from cesium salts of carboxylic acids 1a-f and methyl 2,3,4-tri-O-acetyl-1-bromo-1-deoxy-alpha-D-glucopyranuronate (2). Chemoselectivity of lipase AS Amano (LAS) in the hydrolytic removal of O-acetyl groups of 3a-f to provide methyl esters 4a-f was influenced by the nature of their 1-beta-O-acyl groups; high selectivity was evident only for 3b and 3f. Carboxylesterase from Streptomyces rochei (CSR), newly screened as an alternative to LAS, showed much greater chemoselectivity toward the O-acetyl groups than LAS; 3a, 3d, and 3e were chemoselectively hydrolyzed only by CSR. The combination of CSR with LAS yielded better results in the hydrolysis of 3c and 3f than did single usage of CSR. Final deprotection of the methyl ester groups of 4a-f to provide 5a-f was chemoselectively achieved by using lipase from Candida antarctica type B (CAL-B) as well as esterase from porcine liver (PLE), although CAL-B possessed higher chemoselectivity and catalytic efficiency than did PLE. CSR also exhibited high chemoselectivity in the synthesis of (S)-naproxen 1-beta-O-acyl glucopyranoside (7) from its 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl derivative 6.