Linkage-Editing of Melibiosamine: Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of CH 2 - and CHF-Linked Analogs.

Melibiosamine (Gal-α(1,6)-GlcNH ₂ ), consisting of galactose and glucosamine linked by an α(1,6)-glycosidic bond, is an artificial disaccharide derivative that selectively inhibits the proliferation of K562 tumor cells relative to HUC-F2 normal cells. In this study, we employed a linkage-editing strategy to synthesize CH ₂ - and CHF-linked melibiosamine analogs through chemo- and stereoselective hydrogenation of fluorovinyl- C -glycoside. ( R )-CHF-Melibiosamine exhibited more potent antiproliferative activity than O -linked melibiosamine, while ( S )-CHF-melibiosamine was less potent.