The first chemical synthesis of novel MeO-3-GlcUA derivative of hyaluronan-based disaccharide to elucidate the catalytic mechanism of hyaluronic acid synthases (HASs)

The first chemical synthesis of MeO-3-GlcUAβ(1→3)GlcNAc-UDP to elucidate the catalytic mechanism of hyaluronic acid synthases (HASs) is described. Construction of the desired β(1→3)-linked disaccharide 10 was achieved very efficiently by coupling MeO-3-GlcUA donor 3 with the suitable protected GlcNTroc acceptor 4 using BF3·Et2O as Lewis acid. Chemoselective removal of anomeric NAP, phosphorylation, hydrogenation, coupling with UMP-morpholidate, and finally complete deprotection gave the target compound 1 in good yield.