SYNTHESIS AND CONFORMATIONAL STUDIES OF BETA-(1-]6)-LINKED AND BETA,BETA-(1-]1)-LINKED C-DISACCHARIDES

An expeditious methodology for the synthesis of beta-(1-->6)- and beta,beta-(1-->1)-linked C-disaccharides has been developed. The methodology is based on the fluoride ion-mediated coupling of the (base-stable) nitronate anion derived from a glycosylnitromethane (1) and an aldehydo-hexodialdose or -hexose derivative. The carba-analogs (methylene-bridged analogs) of beta-D-Glc-(1-->6)-D-Gal and of beta,beta-trehalose (beta-D-Glc-(1-->1)-beta-D-Glc) were thus obtained in six steps only from 1 and D-galactose-derived aldehyde 4 or aldehydo-D-glucose derivative 12, respectively. The preferred conformation of the (1-->1)-linked C-disaccharides, including the symmetrical C-beta,beta-trehalose, was established on the basis of the vicinal coupling constants about the interglycosidic C-C linkages. In all the compounds of this series, the beta-C-glycosidic linkages were found to adopt preferentially the ''anti'' conformation (C2-C1-C7-C1' torsional angle = approximately 180-degrees). Our studies revealed, in particular, that the solution conformation of C-beta,beta-trehalose, in which no stereoelectronic (exo-anomeric) effects are operating, is the same as the one predicted and determined for beta,beta-trehalose, thereby demonstrating that steric effects alone are sufficient to cause the greater stability of the preferred conformation of the parent disaccharide.