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A novel transformation from rhamnose-type C-glycosides to 2-cyclopentenones is described. With the promotion of fluoroboric acid, C-glycosides underwent ring opening and subsequent Nazarov cyclization to afford 2-cyclopentenones in good to excellent yields. The solvent and the concentration of acid are crucial to the yield of this transformation.

Carbohydrates play essential roles in various physiological and pathological processes. Trifluoromethylated compounds have wide applications in the field of medicinal chemistry. Herein, we report a practical and efficient trifluoromethylation of glycals by an electrochemical approach using CF3SO2Na as the trifluoromethyl source and MnBr2 as the redox mediator. A variety of trifluoromethylated glycals bearing different protective groups are obtained in 60-90% yields with high regioselectivity. The successful capture of a CF3 radical indicates that a radical mechanism is involved in this reaction.

A novel transformation from rhamnose-type

A novel glycosylation protocol has been established by using N-(glycosyloxy)acetamides as glycosyl donors. The N-oxyacetamide leaving group in donors could be rapidly activated in the presence of Cu(OTf)2 or SnCl4 under microwave irradiation. This glycosylation process afforded the coupled products in high yields, and the reaction enjoyed a broad substrate scope, even for disarmed donors and hindered acceptors. The easy availability of the donors, the high stability of N-(glycosyloxy)acetamides, and the small leaving group make this method very practical.

A new "ring-opening-ring closure" strategy for the synthesis of aryl-C-glycosides was described. This strategy exploited the nickel-catalyzed regioselective β-O elimination of glycals by reactions with various aryl boronic acids or potassium aryltrifluoroborates to yield the ring-opened products, which underwent the Lewis acid, protonic acid, PhSeCl, or NBS mediated ring closure reactions to afford diverse aryl-C-glycosides. After Lewis acids and protonic acids were screened, it was found that, starting from the ring-opened substrates, the Ph3PHBr or Sc(OTf)3 mediated ring closure reaction provided α- or β-preferred aryl-C-Δ(2,3)-glycosides, respectively. Furthermore, β-D-phenyl-C-glycosides were successfully prepared via the PhSeCl-mediated cyclization reaction, whereas the α-D-phenyl-C-glycoside was obtained via the NBS-mediated cyclization reaction. After removal of the 2-substituted functionalities by Bu3SnH/AIBN, the synthesis of 2-deoxy-aryl-C-glycosides was ultimately realized in a stereoselective manner.

An efficient protocol for the O-sialylation using thiosialoside donors under visible light photocatalysis was developed. Thiosialosides were activated under the irradiation with blue light in the presence of Ru(bpy)3(PF6)2 as photocatalyst, Umemoto’s reagent as CF3 radical source and Cu(OTf)2 as an additive in acetonitrile/dichloromethane at −30 °C, and the subsequent reaction with glycosyl acceptors generally produced the desired sialosides in good to excellent yields with the satisfactory α-selectivity.

A versatile and concise synthesis of N-alkylated 1,4-dideoxy-1,4-imino-D-arabinitol and 1,4-dideoxy-1,4-imino-L-xylitol derivatives is described. These were prepared using pseudohemiketal lactams as key intermediates, which in turn were obtained from sucrose. The key intermediates were prepared by a diastereospecific tandem reaction which facilitated the introduction of various substituents on the nitrogen atom of the iminosugars.

Two asymmetrically branched oligosaccharides, LewisX and dimeric LewisX, were assembled in one pot with high yields and exclusive regio- and stereoselectivities. p-Tolyl thioglycosides were utilized as the sole type of building blocks, thus simplifying the overall synthetic design. The reactivity-independent nature of the preactivation based method allows modular assembly of the dimeric LewisX octasaccharide without the need for tedious protective group manipulation to achieve exact anomeric reactivities.

The glycan portion of ganglioside HLG-2, which was identified in the extracts of the sea cucumber Holothuria leucospilota , was synthesized in a highly efficient and stereoselective manner. The unusual sequence of the trisaccharide moiety, α-N-glycolylsialyl-(2,4)-α-N-acetylsialyl-(2,6)-glucoside, was assembled by stereoselective coupling of a 5-N,4-O-carbonyl-protected sialyl phosphate donor, a N-2,2,2-trichloroethoxycarbonyl (Troc)-protected sialyl acceptor, and a (trimethylsilyl)ethyl-β-glucosyl acceptor in high yield. The synthesis featured the high-yielding construction of two α-sialyl linkages.

3,4-Bis(trimethylsilyl)thiophene (1a) was synthesized by three routes: (a) 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition; (b) modification of 3,4-dibromothiophene; and (c) intermolecular thiazole-alkyne Diels-Alder reaction. 3,4-Bis(trimethylsilyl)thiophene (1a) can function as a versatile building block for the construction of unsymmetrically 3,4-disubstituted thiophenes utilizing its stepwise regiospecific mono-ipso-substitution followed by palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions. In this manner, thiophenes 15, 16, 17a-j, 19a,b, 20, 22a-c, 23a,b, 24a-d, 25a-c, and 27a-j were prepared. The thiophene-3,4-diyl dimer 28 and thiophene-3,4-diyl tetramer 29 were also realized by palladium-catalyzed self-coupling reaction of organoboroxines. The stannylthiophene 31, formed by conversion of the C-Si bond to a C-Sn bond via boroxine 26c underwent both carbonylative coupling and lithiation followed by quenching with electrophiles to afford unsymmetrically 3,4-disubstituted thiophenes 33 and 36a-c as well. Moreover, 3,4-bis(trimethylsilyl)thiophene (1a) can be used as the starting material for the generation of the highly strained cyclic cumulene 3,4-didehydrothiophene (2), whose existence was substantiated by its trapping reaction with several alkenes.

Catalytic or stoichiometric amounts of Lewis acids were found to be very effective α-directing additives in the stereoselective glycosylations of diverse 2,3-O-carbonate-protected glucose and galactose thioglycoside donors by preactivation protocol. The poor stereoselectivities of 4,6-di-O-acetyl-2,3-O-carbonate protected thioglycoside donors in glycosyl coupling reactions were greatly improved, and excellent α-stereoselectivities were achieved by the addition of 0.2 equiv of BF(3)·OEt(2). On the other hand, the β-selectivities of 4,6-di-O-benzyl-2,3-O-carbonate-protected thioglucoside donor toward glycosylations were reversed completely to the α-selectivities by the use of 1 equiv of SnCl(4), making the stereoselectivity controllable. Furthermore, the poor stereoselectivities of 4,6-di-O-benzyl-2,3-O-carbonate-protected thiogalactoside donor in glycosylations were also improved by using SnCl(4) as additive.

Two efficient routes for the rapid assembly of the tumor-associated carbohydrate antigen Globo-H hexasaccharide 2 by a preactivation based iterative one-pot strategy are reported. The first method involves the sequential coupling of four glycosyl building blocks, leading to the desired hexasaccharide in 47% overall yield in one-pot synthesis. Although model studies on constructing the challenging Gal-alpha-(1-4)-Gal linkage in Gb3 trisaccharide yielded the desired alpha linkage almost exclusively, a similar approach to assemble the hexasaccharide led to the formation of a significant amount of beta anomer. As an alternative, the second synthesis utilized three components in one pot with the Gal-alpha-(1-4)-Gal linkage preformed, producing the desired hexasaccharide in a similar overall yield as the four component approach. Both methods demonstrate that oligosaccharides containing alpha and beta linkages within the same molecule can be constructed in one pot via a preactivation based approach with higher glyco-assembly efficiencies than the automated solid-phase synthesis strategy. Furthermore, because glycosylations can be carried out independent of anomeric reactivities of donors, it is not necessary to differentiate anomeric reactivities of building blocks through extensive protective group adjustment for chemoselective glycosylation. This confers great flexibilities in the building block design, allowing matching of the donor with the acceptor, leading to improved overall yield.

The assembly of an oligosaccharide library has been achieved in a practical and efficient manner employing a' one-pot sequential approach. With the help of the anomeric reactivity values of thioglycosides, using a thioglycoside (mono- or disaccharide) with one free hydroxyl group as acceptor and donor coupled with another fully protected thioglycoside, a di- or trisaccharide is selectively formed without self-condensation and subsequently reacted in situ with an anomerically inactive glycoside (mono- or disaccharide) to form a tri- or tetrasaccharide in high overall yield. The approach enables the rapid assembly of 33 linear or branched fully protected oligosaccharides using designed building blocks. These fully protected oligosaccharides have been partially or completely deprotected to create 29 more structures to further increase the diversity of the library.