Directing-protecting groups for carbohydrates. Design, conformational study, synthesis and application to regioselective functionalization

A novel concept of regioselective transformation of secondary hydroxyl groups in carbohydrates is presented. First, the relative reactivity of the free hydroxyl groups of onoprotected d-glucose derivatives was assessed using acetylation as a model reaction. As a result, acylation of these polyols gave a mixture of monosubstituted products in which the 3-O functionalized derivatives predominated. Novel hydrogen bond acceptor protecting groups were next designed to modulate the 4-OH and 3-OH reactivity in the hope to mediate higher regioselective transformations. A molecular modeling study later validated by spectroscopic analysis predicted additional intramolecular hydrogen bonds between the hydroxyl groups and pyridyl-containing protecting groups. Taking advantage of this induced hydrogen bond network, we achieved regioselective acetylation of the hydroxyl group at position 3 without protecting any secondary hydroxyl groups of the carbohydrate moiety. This designed protecting/directing group increased the nucleophilicity and the steric hindrance of position 3. As a result, optimization of the reaction conditions enabled the monoacetylation (not affected by steric hindrance) of 6-O-protected glucopyranosides at position 3 and selective silylation (affected by steric hindrance) of position 2 in high isolated yields and regioselectivities. This result certainly opens doors to the regioselective open glycosylation of carbohydrates.