Total Synthesis of Five Lipoteichoic acids of Clostridium difficile

The emergence of hypervirulent resistant strains have made Clostridium difficile a notorious nosocomial pathogen and has resulted in a renewed interest in preventive strategies, such as vaccines based on (synthetic) cell wall antigens. Recently, the structure of the lipoteichoic acid (LTA) of this species has been elucidated. Additionally, this LTA was found to induce the formation of protective antibodies against C. difficile in rabbits and mice. The LTA from C. difficile is isolated as a microheterogenous mixture, differing in size and composition, impeding any structure–activity relationship studies. To ensure reliable biological results, pure and well‐defined synthetic samples are required. In this work the total synthesis of LTAs from C. difficile with defined chain length is described and the initial biological results are presented.