Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of a Library of Human Milk Oligosaccharides

J Org Chem. 2016 Jul 15;81(14):5851-65. doi: 10.1021/acs.joc.6b00478. Epub 2016 Jun 29.

Abstract

Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are a family of diverse unconjugated glycans that exist in human milk as one of the major components. Characterization, quantification, and biofunctional studies of HMOs remain a great challenge due to their diversity and complexity. The accessibility of a homogeneous HMO library is essential to solve these issues which have beset academia for several decades. In this study, an efficient chemoenzymatic strategy, namely core synthesis/enzymatic extension (CSEE), for rapid production of diverse HMOs was reported. On the basis of 3 versatile building blocks, 3 core structures were chemically synthesized via consistent use of oligosaccharyl thioether and oligosaccharyl bromide as glycosylation donors in a convergent fragment coupling strategy. Each of these core structures was then extended to up to 11 HMOs by 4 robust glycosyltransferases. A library of 31 HMOs were chemoenzymatically synthesized and characterized by MS and NMR. CSEE indeed provides a practical approach to harvest structurally defined HMOs for various applications.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Bromides / chemistry
  • Chemistry, Organic
  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
  • Glycosylation
  • Glycosyltransferases / chemistry*
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
  • Mass Spectrometry
  • Milk, Human / chemistry*
  • Oligosaccharides / chemical synthesis*
  • Polysaccharides / analysis
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization
  • Sulfides / chemistry

Substances

  • Bromides
  • Oligosaccharides
  • Polysaccharides
  • Sulfides
  • Glycosyltransferases