Chemo-enzymatic Synthesis of rac 1-O-Alkyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine and its Analogues

The synthesis of rac 1-O-alkyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholines (6a-c), blood platelet activating ether lipid analogues has been achieved in a four-step sequence from epichlorohydrin (1). Etherification of epichlorohydrin with different alcohols namely tetradecyl (2a), hexadecyl (2b) and octadecyl (2c) alcohols gave glycidyl ethers (3a-c) with 78-80% yields. The second step involved opening of the epoxide by acetic anhydride to give acetylated products (4a-c, 76-78% yield), which were subsequently hydrolyzed selectively, a key step of the method employing a 1,3 specific lipase to obtain rac 1-0-alkyl-2-acetylglycerol (5a-c) with 45-50% yields. The hydrolyzed products (5a-c) were phosphorylated to obtain rac 1-O-alkyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholines (6a-c) in 80-85% yields.