Ulrike Spohr

Synthetic, conformational, and immunochemical studies of modified Lewis b and Y human blood-group determinants to serve as probes for the combining site of the lectin IV of Griffonia simplicifolia

Syntheses of the methyl glycosides of the Lewis b [alpha-L-Fuc-(1----2)-beta-D-Gal-(1----3) [alpha-L-Fuc-(1----4)]-beta-D-GlcNAc-] and Y [alpha-L-Fuc-(1----2)-beta-D-Gal-(1----4) [alpha-L-Fuc-(1----3)]-beta-D- GlcNAc-] human blood-group determinants and both their 6a-deoxy and N-deacetylated derivatives are reported. In the case of the Lewis b structure (Leb-OMe), the 6a-O-mesyl and 6a-deoxy-6a-iodo derivatives were also prepared. The conformational preferences predicted by HSEA calculation are shown to be in good agreement with expectations based on 1H- and 13C-n.m.r. spectroscopy. The immunochemical data based on inhibition and thermodynamic studies require that the binding of Leb-OMe and Y-OMe by the lectin IV of Griffonia simplicifolia does not involve recognition of the OMe, NHAc, or 6a-OH group and, consequently, occurs at a cleft at the surface of the protein. The complex formed between the lectin and 6a-deoxy-6a-iodo-Leb-OMe provided the heavy nuclei required for the solution of the X-ray crystal structure.

The recognition of three different epitopes for the H-type 2 human blood group determinant by lections ofUlex europaeus, Galactia tenuiflora andPsophocarpus tetragonolobus (Winged Bean)

The chemical mapping of the regions of H-type 2 human blood group-related trisaccharide (Fucα(1–2)Galβ(1–4)GlcNAcβMe) that are recognized by three different lectins, the so-called epitopes, are reviewed together with an account of how and why oligosaccharides form specific complexes with proteins as presently viewed in this laboratory. The occasion is used to report the synthesis of the various mono-O-methyl derivatives of the above trisaccharide that were used in these investigations. Also, Fucα(1–2)Galβ(1–4)XylβMe was synthesized in order to examine whether or not the hydroxymethyl group of the GlcNAc residue participates in the binding reaction.