Tünde Zita Illyés

Experimental and computational studies of nJ(77Se,1H) selenium–proton couplings in selenoglycosides

Selenoglycosides are important starting materials in synthetic carbohydrate chemistry and play a role in biological interactions as well. Both aspects are influenced by the conformation around the glycosidic bond. Here, we present a combined experimental and computational approach to measure and evaluate nJ(77Se,1H) coupling constants for their use in conformational analysis. The measurements were carried out using a modified CPMG‐HSQMBC pulse scheme which yields pure absorption antiphase multiplets to allow accurate determination of the nJXH values regardless of the size of the proton‐proton couplings. Theoretical calculations were performed at the Second‐Order Polarization Propagator Approach (SOPPA) level. Population‐averaged values calculated for geminal and vicinal couplings are in a good agreement with experiment indicating an adequate theoretical level of the calculations. Experimental observations and computations alike have indicated that two‐bond 77Se‐1H couplings, 2J(77Se,1H), in a H1‐C1‐Se‐X moiety are very sensitive to the torsion angle around the C1‐Se‐bond and will, therefore, be useful for conformational studies. Copyright

Precise Measurement of Long-Range Heteronuclear Coupling Constants by a Novel Broadband Proton–Proton-Decoupled CPMG-HSQMBC Method

A broadband proton–proton-decoupled CPMG-HSQMBC method for the precise and direct measurement of long-range heteronuclear coupling constants is presented. The Zangger–Sterk-based homodecoupling scheme reported herein efficiently removes unwanted proton–proton splittings from the heteronuclear multiplets, so that the desired heteronuclear couplings can be determined simply by measuring frequency differences between singlet maxima in the resulting spectra. The proposed pseudo-1D/2D pulse sequences were tested on nucleotides, a metal complex incorporating P heterocycles, and diglycosyl (di)selenides, as well as on other carbohydrate derivatives, for the extraction of nJ(1H,31P), nJ(1H,77Se), and nJ(1H,13C) values, respectively.

Aromatic glycosyl disulfide derivatives: evaluation of their inhibitory activities against Trypanosoma cruzi.

Aromatic oligovalent glycosyl disulfides and some diglycosyl disulfides were tested against three different Trypanosoma cruzi strains. Di-(β-D-galactopyranosyl-dithiomethylene) benzenes 2b and 4b proved to be the most active derivatives against all three strains of cell culture-derived trypomastigotes with IC50 values ranging from 4 to 11 μM at 37 °C. The inhibitory activities were maintained, although somewhat lowered, at a temperature of 4 °C as well. Three further derivatives displayed similar activities against at least one of the three strains. Low cytotoxicities of the active compounds, tested on confluent HeLa, Vero and peritoneal macrophage cell cultures, resulted in significantly higher selectivity indices (SI) than that of the reference drug benznidazole. Remarkably, several molecules of the tested panel strongly inhibited the parasite release from T. cruzi infected HeLa cell cultures suggesting an effect against the intracellular development of T. cruzi amastigotes as well.

Convenient syntheses of 1,2-trans selenoglycosides using isoselenuronium salts as glycosylselenenyl transfer reagents.

Se-glycosyl-isoselenuronium salts such as three and four which can be prepared in one high-yielding step from acetohalogeno sugars proved to be convenient starting materials for the syntheses of a variety of selenoglycosides. Reaction with (ar)alkyl halides proceeds under mild conditions, in short time, at room temperature to afford the corresponding selenoglycosides in good yields. Aryl halides react to appreciable extent only if bearing activating nitro groups on the aromatic ring. Reactions with acylating reagents such as acetic anhydride and benzoyl chlorides furnished anomeric selenoesters some of which were recently proposed as starting compounds for alternative selenoglycoside syntheses. Selenodisaccharides with two different monosaccharide units could also be prepared via reactions of glycosyl-isoselenuronium salts with monosaccharide derivatives bearing primary or secondary triflate groups.

Photoinitiated hydrothiolation of pyranoid exo-glycals: the d-galacto and d-xylo cases

Radical-mediated addition reactions of thiols to O-peracetylated exo-galactal and exo-xylal with 2,2-dimethoxy-2-phenylacetophenone as the photoinitiator resulted in high yielding formation of the corresponding β-d-glycopyranosylmethyl-sulfide derivatives (2,6-anhydro-1-deoxy-1-S-substituted-1-thio-alditols) with exclusive regio- and very high stereoselectivity, including disaccharide mimicks with Gly-CH2-S-Gly scaffolds.

Electrospray ionization mass spectrometric analysis of highly reactive glycosyl halides.

Highly reactive glycosyl chlorides and bromides have been analysed by a routine mass spectrometric method using electrospray ionization and lithium salt adduct-forming agents in anhydrous acetonitrile solution, providing salient lithiated molecular ions [M+Li]+, [2M+Li]+etc. The role of other adduct-forming salts has also been evaluated. The lithium salt method is useful for accurate mass determination of these highly sensitive compounds.

Oxidative rearrangement of flavanones with thallium(III) nitrate, lead tetraacetate and hypervalent iodines in trimethyl orthoformate and perchloric or sulfuric acid

An HPLC monitoring protocol has been developed to follow the reaction of flavanone [(±)-1] with thallium(III) nitrate, lead tetracetate, phenyliodonium diacetate (PIDA) or [hydroxyl( tosyloxy)iodo]benzene in trimethyl orthoformate. Besides the major ring-contraction product, the 2,3-dihydrobenzo[b]furan derivative (±)-4a, minor components were also identified, and their structures including the relative stereochemistry and a plausible mechanism of formation are reported and compared with literature data. The oxidation reactions were monitored by HPLC at different conditions, and the structure and the ratio of the products were determined and compared. The preferred formation of flavone (5) from (±)-flavanone (1) by PIDA is explained by quantum-chemical calculations on the intermediate formed by the addition of this reagent to the enol ether derivative of (±)-1. Graphical Abstract Oxidative Rearrangement of Flavanones with Thallium(III) Nitrate, Lead Tetraacetate and Hypervalent Iodines in Trimethyl Orthoformate and Perchloric or Sulfuric Acid