Chemical Synthesis of Biosurfactant Succinoyl Trehalose Lipids

Herein, we report, for the first time, a strategy to differentiate O4/O4′ positions of 1,1′-α,α-trehalose via regioselective protection or site-selective functionalization and its application in the first chemical synthesis of succinoyl trehalose lipids. The biosurfactant glycolipids were obtained in 11–12 steps starting from trehalose in time span of 8–10 days and 11–12% overall yields.