Direct dehydrative glycosylation catalyzed by diphenylammonium triflate

Article abstract of DOI:10.3390/molecules25051103

Methods for direct dehydrative glycosylations of carbohydrate hemiacetals catalyzed by diphenylammonium triflate under microwave irradiation are described. Both armed and disarmed glycosyl-C1-hemiacetal donors were efficiently glycosylated in moderate to excellent yields without the need for any drying agents and stoichiometric additives. This method has been successfully applied to a solid-phase glycosylation.

Full text of DOI:10.3390/molecules25051103

molecules
Communication
Direct Dehydrative Glycosylation Catalyzed by
Diphenylammonium Triflate
Mei-Yuan Hsu 1,2,3,† , Sarah Lam 1,† , Chia-Hui Wu 1,2,3 , Mei-Huei Lin 1 , Su-Ching Lin 1
and Cheng-Chung Wang 1,2,
*
1
Institute of Chemistry, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan; ja75822@gmail.com (M.-Y.H.);
sarahlamyy@gmail.com (S.L.); ajhanne.chiahui@gmail.com (C.-H.W.); babylove333a@gmail.com (M.-H.L.);
suching@gate.sinica.edu.tw (S.-C.L.)
Chemical Biology and Molecular Biophysics Program, Taiwan International Graduate Program (TIGP),
Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan
Department of Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Correspondence: wangcc@chem.sinica.edu.tw; Tel.: +886-5572-8618
These authors contributed equally to this work.
2
3
*
†
ꢀꢁꢂꢀꢃꢄꢅꢆꢇ
Academic Editor: Richard A. Bunce
Received: 7 February 2020; Accepted: 29 February 2020; Published: 2 March 2020
ꢀꢁꢂꢃꢄꢅꢆ
Abstract: Methods for direct dehydrative glycosylations of carbohydrate hemiacetals catalyzed by
diphenylammonium triflate under microwave irradiation are described. Both armed and disarmed
glycosyl-C1-hemiacetal donors were efficiently glycosylated in moderate to excellent yields without
the need for any drying agents and stoichiometric additives. This method has been successfully
applied to a solid-phase glycosylation.
Keywords: carbohydrates; dehydration; glycosylation; homogeneous catalysis microwave chemistry
1. Introduction
Glycosylation is one of the most important reactions in oligosaccharide synthesis [1].
Though monosaccharides in hemiacetal form are commercially available or easily prepared, use of
them as glycosyl donors often requires prior elaboration of the anomeric hydroxyl to a good leaving
group [2–7]. In contrast, direct dehydrative glycosylation is an atom economic and environmentally
friendly method because only water is generated as a byproduct. This approach has been utilized
in classical Fischer glycosylation of unprotected sugars by using excess glycosyl acceptor and
a stoichiometric amount of Brønsted acid as promoter [
glycosylation has been achieved by using surfactant-type catalysts [
medium under acid catalysis [10] or pyrrolidinium salt as organocatalyst [11
8
]. More recently, direct dehydrative
], ionic liquids as the reaction
12] (Scheme 1).
9
,
However, these glycosylations are limited to the preparation of simple glycosides or 2-deoxy sugars,
and application of this method to the synthesis of more complex oligosaccharides remains challenging.
Molecules 2020, 25, 1103; doi:10.3390/molecules25051103
www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules

Molecules 2020, 25, 1103
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Scheme 1. Direct dehydrative glycosylation.
Numerous metal-catalyzed condensation reactions have been reported in the literature [13,14].
The shift from metal to metal-free catalysis is the current trend for greener and more sustainable
chemistry. Arylammonium triflates and bulky diarylammonium arenesulfonates were introduced by
Tanabe [15,16] and Ishihara [17–21], respectively, to be effective catalysts for direct dehydrative
esterification between carboxylic acids and alcohols in almost equimolar amounts. The local
hydrophobic environment provided by the aryl substituents around the reaction center appears to enable
condensation to proceed without the need to remove the water produced. We envisioned promoting
dehydrative glycosylation in a similar manner. To date, there is just a single report describing an
aggregated complex of a N,N-diarylammonium sulfate being used to catalyze dehydrative glycosylation
of a reactive benzyl-protected ribose and 1-dodecanol in water [21]. Herein, we disclose a glycosylation
reaction driven by water exclusion, which encompasses a microwave-assisted method for direct
dehydrative glycosylations of both armed and disarmed saccharides by using diphenylammonium
triflate (DPAT) as an efficient and green catalyst. No effort was made to remove or exclude water.
2. Results and Discussion
The process was initially applied to the reaction of 2,3,4,6-tetrabenzylglucose (
a 1:1 mixture of 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE) and toluene under microwave irradiation (Table 1). Using
10 mol% of the commercially available dimesityammonium pentafluorobenzenesulfonate (3a) [17
afforded methyl-O-glycoside 4a as a mixture of and -anomers in 90% yield (Table 1, entry 2).
1) with methanol in
]
α
β
Although the glycosylation could be promoted by conventional heating, microwave heating in general
gave cleaner and more reliable results. The use of anhydrous solvents under inert atmosphere,
so important in many previously reported glycosylations, was quite unnecessary. The workup
procedure merely involved quenching with trimethylamine, followed by removal of solvent, and the
desired glycosylation product was readily isolated by chromatography. The dehydrative glycosylation
did not proceed without the catalyst under similar conditions (Table 1, entry 1).

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Table 1. Initial catalyst screen for the glycosylation of 1 a.
Yield b
Entry
Catalyst
α:β c
NR d
90%
90%
83%
9% g
NR
1
2
3
-
-
1:1
1:1
1:1
1:1
-
[(Mes)2NH2][O3S(C6F5)] (3a)
Ph2NH2OTf (DPAP) (3b)
Ph2NH2OTf (DPAP) (3b)
Ph2NH2OTf (DPAP) (3b)
Me2NH2OTf (3c)
4 e
5 f
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Bn2NH2OTf (3d)
NR
-
5%g
5%g
5%g
89%
36% i
ND h
ND h
ND h
1:1
2:1
Ph2NH2OMs (3e)
Ph2NH2O3SPh (3f)
Ph2NH2OTs (3g)
Ph2NH2ClO4 (3h)
TfOH
a
Reactions were performed with the following presentative procedure: To a solution of glycopyranose (0.2 mmol)
in a 1:1 mixture of DCE and toluene (2.0 mL) in a flame-dried vessel or flask was added an acceptor (0.24–0.60 mmol)
and diarylammonium salt (0.02 mmol) at room temperature under ambient atmosphere. The mixture was heated in
a microwave reactor at target temperature. The progress of the reaction was monitored by TLC. After the reaction
was complete, the reaction mixture was quenched by addition of triethylamine (0.03 mL, 0.2 mmol), concentrated
b
under reduced pressure and the residue was purified by flash column chromatography on silica gel. Isolated yield.
c Determined by 1H NMR spectroscopy. d No reaction. e In the presence of 1.0 equiv. MgSO4. f In the presence of 5%
h
i
(v/v) H2O. g 74%–87%
1 was recovered. Not determined. Along with 13% of 1,2,3,4,6-pentabenzylglucoside 4b.
Due to the relatively high cost of 3a, we sought a cheaper alternative as catalyst.
Diphenylammonium triflate (DPAT) (3b), which can be readily prepared by precipitation from
a solution of equimolar diphenylamine and triflic acid in toluene [13], was next examined. We were
gratified to find that methyl O-glycoside 4a was formed in a similarly high yield under identical
reaction conditions (entry 3). Addition of magnesium sulfate to scavenge water produced in the
reaction did not improve the result (entry 4), indicating that water is kept outside the active reaction
site by the phenyl groups of the catalyst so that the process is not sensitive to a small amount of water
present in the reaction medium. Not unexpectedly, adding 5% H2O (v/v) to the reaction mixture
inhibited glycosylation (entry 5); nonetheless, some product was formed, demonstrating that the local
hydrophobic environment at the reaction center was not completely disrupted by the presence of
a large amount of water. Based on the success of DPAT, a series of analogous ammonium salts was
similarly prepared and screened for dehydrative glycosylation. In general, catalysts prepared from
either dialkylamines (entries 6–7) or less acidic Brønsted acids, such as methanesulfonic acid (pKa (H2O)
= –1.9, entry 8) [22], benzenesulfonic acid (pKa (H2O) = –2.8, entry 9) [17–21], or p-toluenesulfonic
acid (pKa (H2O) = –2.1, entry 10) [23] were inactive. Only catalysts generated from Brønsted acids
having acidity similar to that of triflic acid (pKa (H2O) = –14.7), such as perchloric acid (pKa (H2O)
= –15.2) [24], gave comparable yields (entry 11). Note that using triflic acid alone led to a mixture
of glycosylation products together with significant amounts of benzyl O-glycosides 4b, arising from
intermolecular benzyl group migration (entry 12).
Having identified DPAT as the most suitable catalyst for dehydrative glycosylation of
methanol, the generality of the reaction with a panel of glycosyl acceptors was studied (Table 2).
Under the same conditions, glycosylation of with a range of primary (entries 1–2) and secondary
1 with
1
(entries 3–4) alcohols proceeded smoothly to afford the corresponding glucosides in moderate to
good yields. Less reactive acceptors including Cbz-protected amino acids 2f and 2g and primary
monosaccharide 2h also worked, although two equivalents of the acceptor were required for reasonable
conversion (entries 5–7). No loss of the protecting groups on these acceptors was observed.

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Table 2. Acceptor scope with benzyl-protected glucose 1.
α:β b
Entry
Acceptor
Yield a
1
2
3
benzyl alcohol (2b)
2-propenol (2c)
isopropanol (2d)
cyclohexanol (2e)
4b 75%
4c 80%
4d 74%
4e 76%
4f 60%
4g 48%
4h 64%
2:1
2:1
2:1
2:1
2:1
1:1
2:1
4
5 c
6 c
7 c,d,e
2f
2g
2h
a
b
c
d
Isolated yield. Determined by 1H NMR spectroscopy. Using 2.0 equiv. of acceptor. Reaction at 60 ◦C.
e
Reaction time = 60 min.
Next, the tolerance of the method for other protecting groups was explored (Table 3).
Partial replacement of the electron-donating benzyl with electron-withdrawing acetyl or benzoyl
groups had no effect on the reactivity of the donor toward glycosylation. For example, disaccharide 9h
was obtained from C6-acetyl-protected glycosyl donor
the same yield as was 4h from fully benzyl-protected
5
1
and monosaccharide acceptor 2h in essentially
and 2h (Table 3, entry 1 vs. Table 2, entry 7).
Switching the anomeric protecting group to a thiol in the acceptor led to only a slightly diminished
disaccharide yield (entry 2). Notably, the 1-thiol group, which was stable under the present dehydrative
glycosylation, could serve as an orthogonal protection for an ensuing glycosylation. Triacylated and
fully acylated donors 6−8 exhibited reactivity similar to that of
2-benzoyl group in apparently engaged in a neighboring group participation that contributed to 100%
–selective glycosylations with the less reactive acceptors 2f 2h, and 2i (entries 5–7). The inactivity
5 (entries 3–13). In addition, the
6
β
,
of secondary alcohol in monosaccharide acceptor can be advantageously exploited for regioselective
glycosylation. For example, only the primary alcohol in 4,6-diol acceptor 2j was reactive to undergo
glycosylation to yield β-(1,6)-disaccharide 10j as the sole product (entry 8). We note that 7 and 8 were
previously reported to possess poor reactivity as glycosyl donors [25]. In some cases, slightly higher
temperatures were required, but these systems also afforded gratifyingly decent glycosylation yields
with simple alcohols (entries 9–11). The less reactive Cbz-protected serine 2f afforded amino-sugar
◦
11f in moderate yield (entry 12). Under microwave irradiation at 80 C in the presence of DPAT,
the acetyl groups on
glycosylation. In these cases, the crude reaction mixtures were subjected to re-acetylation prior to
product isolation. For benzoyl-protected glucoside
, an even higher reaction temperature (100 ◦C) was
necessary for glycosylation to proceed at reasonable rates (entries 13–15). In contrast to acetyl groups,
benzoyl groups on were more robust under our conditions and generally remained intact. Traces of
7 were partially cleaved, presumably making the donor more reactive towards
8
8
2-debenzoylated glycosylation products isolated in reactions with acceptors 2a and 2d suggested that
the 2-acyl group was the most labile under high reaction temperatures and the prolonged reaction
times that are required to activate highly disarmed donors such as
7 and 8 for glycosylation; this
observation may account for the poorer stereoselectivies in glycosylation with 7 and 8 as donors.

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Table 3. Reaction scope with various-protected glucoses.
α:β b
Entry
Donor
Acceptor
T (◦C)
Yield a
1 c
2 c
3
5
5
6
6
6
6
6
6
7
7
7
7
8
8
8
2h
2i
2d
2e
2f
2h
2i
2j
2a
2d
2e
2f
2a
2d
2e
70
70
80
80
80
70
70
80
80
80
80
100
100
100
100
9h 68%
9i 58%
2:1
3:1
1:2
10d 71%
10e 79%
10f 60%
10h 62%
10i 56%
10j 63%
11a 58%
11d 75%
11e 62%
11f 39%
12a 64% f
12d 75% f
12e 71%
4
1:2
5 c
6 c
7 c
8 d
9 e
10 e
11 e
12 e
13
14
15
β-only
β-only
β-only
β-only
1:1
2:1
2:1
1:1
1:2
3:1
6:1
a
e
b
c
d
Isolated yield. Determined by 1H NMR spectrocopy. Using 2 equiv. of acceptor. Using 1.8 equiv. of acceptor.
f
The crude product was treated with Ac2O and pyridine for 12–16 h prior to purification. ~5% of 2-debenzoylated
glycosylation product isolated.
Finally, the scope of the DPAT-catalyzed dehydrative glycosylation was examined using different
sugars, including galactose 13, mannose 14, 2-deoxy sugars 17 and 18 (Tables 4 and 5). The glycosylation
products were obtained in reasonable yields up to 95% when using simple primary and secondary
alcohols, serine derivative 2f and monosaccharide 2k as the glycosyl acceptors. Direct dehydative
glycosylations with the more reactive 2-deoxy sugars 17 and 18 were accomplished at room temperature
without microwave irradiation. Notably, the glycosylations favored the formation of α-anomers,
and exclusive α-selectivity was realized with mannosyl donor 14 (Table 4, entries 5−8).

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Table 4. Reaction scope of diphenylammonium triflate (DPAT)-catalyzed dehydrative glycosylation of
galactose and mannose.
α:β b
Entry
Donor
Acceptor
Yield a
1 c
2 d,e
3
13
13
13
13
14
14
14
14
2a
2d
2e
2f
2a
2d
2e
2f
15a 95%
15d 82%
15e 59%
15f 56%
16a 90%
16d 82%
16e 73%
16f 62%
2:1
2:1
2:1
4
2:1
5 c
6 d,e
7
α only
α only
α only
α only
8
aIsolated yield. bDetermined by 1H NMR spectroscopy. cUsing 3 equiv. of acceptor. dUsing 2.4 equiv. of acceptor.
eReaction time = 60 min.
Table 5. Reaction scope of DPAT-catalyzed dehydrative glycosylation of 2-deoxyglycoses.
α:β b
Entry
Donor
Acceptor
Yield a
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
17
17
17
17
18
18
18
18
2d
2e
2f
2k
2d
2e
2f
19d 68%
19e 60%
19f 52%
19k 51%
20d 70%
20e 73%
20f 68%
20k 51%
3:1
3:1
5:1
4:1
6:1
6:1
10:1
6:1
2k
a
b
Isolated yield. Determined by 1H NMR spectroscopy.
Since the present dehydrative glycosylation was carried out under microwave heating, solid-phase
glycosylation is likely to be performed using an ordinary peptide synthesizer. The applicability of
the DPAT-promoted dehydrative glycosylation in solid-phase synthesis was then briefly investigated.
To illustrate the feasibility of solid-phase dehydrative glycosylation, glycosyl acceptor 2l immobilized
on Merrifield resin with a photo-cleavable o-nitrobenzyl linker [26] was employed to react with 1 in the
presence of DPAT under microwave irradiation at 80 ◦C for 1 h (Scheme 2). After a photo-induced
cleavage from the solid support, the desired glycosylation product 4l was obtained in 55% yield.
Scheme 2. DPAT-promoted solid-phase dehydrative glycosylation.
To understand the mechanism of the DPAT-catalyzed dehydrative glycosylation, the reaction of
2-deoxyglucose 17 with isopropanol in dichloromethane-d2 at room temperature, similar to that shown

Molecules 2020, 25, 1103
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in entry 1 of Table 5, was continuously monitored by 1H NMR spectroscopy (see SI). However, only the
proton signals corresponding to the starting materials, catalyst, and product 19d were observed over 2
h. Upon addition of DPAT, the proton signals of 2-doxyglucose 17 were broadened presumably due
to their interactions through hydrogen bonding as depicted in complex
A (see SI for more details).
To know the variation of anomeric ratios of reactants and products over the course of reaction,
DPAT-catalyzed dehydrative glycosylation reaction of methyl-d3-glucopyranose 21 and isopropanol
1
(
2d) was monitored by H NMR spectroscopy (see SI). Proton signals corresponding to anomeric
mixtures 21α and 21β equilibrated to a ratio of 1:1 at the evaluated temperature and gradually
diminished as the reaction progressed. Concurrently, proton signals corresponding to glycosides 22dα
and 22dβ increased with a fixed equilibrium ratio (
actual reaction mechanism awaits further investigation, Scheme 3 shows one plausible mechanism
via oxacarbenium intermediate formed by the elimination of a water molecule from the activated
α:β = 1:0.7) (see Figures S4 and S5). Though the
B
sugar. This oxacarbenium intermediate would be readily intercepted by an acceptor to furnish the
corresponding glycosylation products. The water molecule would be expelled from the reaction center,
and the hydrophobic environment created by the N-phenyl groups of the DPAT catalyst would prevent
its re-entry, thereby driving the reaction to completion.
Scheme 3. A plausible mechanism for dehydrative glycosylation.
3. Conclusions
In conclusion, we report a direct dehydrative glycosylation reaction of carbohydrate hemiacetals
catalyzed by diphenylammonium triflate under microwave irradiation. The hydrophobicity of
diphenylammonium ions shields the reactive site from water to eliminate the formation of hydrolyzed
products. This approach efficiently couples both armed and disarmed hemiacetal donors with a wide
range of acceptors. No special precautions to exclude moisture or procedures to remove water
generated during the course of the reaction are required. We have further applied this method to
a solid-phase reaction using an acceptor immobilized on solid support. Initial mechanistic studies
reveal that the glycosylation may involve a short-lived intermediate generated from DPAT-activation of
the anomeric hydroxyl sugar. Detailed mechanistic studies and applications to automated solid-phase
synthesis are currently underway.
Supplementary Materials: The following are available online at http://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/25/5/1103/s1,
Figure S1: 1H NMR spectra of reaction of 17 and 2d in the presence the of 10 mol% of DPAT (3b) in CD2Cl2
at the ambient temperature for a) 10 min; b) 20 min; c) 30 min: d) 40 min; e) 50 min; f) 60 min; g) 120 min.
Figure S2: 1H NMR spectra in CD2Cl2 of a) 17; b) 10:1 of mixture of 17 and DPAT (3b) c) 10:1 of mixture of 17 and
[(Mes)2NH2][O3S(C6F5)] (3a). Figure S3: 1H NMR spectra of DPAT-catalyzed reaction of 21 and 2d in toluene-d8

Molecules 2020, 25, 1103
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at a) ambient temperature for 1 h; b) 60 oC for 30 min; c) 70 oC for 20 min; d) 80 oC for 10 min; e) 80 oC for 30 min;
and f) 80 oC for 50 min. Figure S4: The normalized plots of methyl-d3-glucopyranose 21. Black line indicates
21, red line indicates 21α, and blue line indicates 21β. Figure S5: The normalized plots of glucoside 22d. Black
line indicates 22, red line indicates α-22d, and blue line indicates β-22d. Figure S6: The water-repelling study in
1,2-dichloroethane of a) H2O; b) 10:1 of mixture of H2O and Ph2NH2; c) 10:1 of mixture of H2O and TfOH; d)
10:1:1 of mixture of H2O, TfOH, and succinimide; e) 10:1 of mixture of H2O and DPAT (3b); f) 10:1 of mixture of
H2O and [(Mes)2NH2][O3S(C6F5)] (3a).
Author Contributions: C.-C.W. conceived the ideas of mechanism studies and supervised students to carry out the
experiments. M.-Y.H. initiated the extensive work on the mechanism, and S.L. discovered glycosyl intermediates,
and prepared the manuscript. C.-H.W., M.-H.L., and S.-C.L. did numerous glycosylation reactions and discovered
glycosyl intermediates through low temperature NMR experiments. All authors have read and agreed to the
published version of the manuscript.
Funding: This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (MOST 108-2113-M-001-019-;
106–2113-M-001-009-MY2) and Academia Sinica (MOST 108-3114-Y-001-002; ASSUMMIT-108). S.L. thanks
Academia Sinica for a postdoctoral fellowship.
Conflicts of Interest: There are no conflicts to declare.
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