4
Journal of Chemical Research 00(0)
Synthesis of (2S,3S,4R)-2-[(N-tert-
C25H51C(O)Cl
THF /NaOAc (aq)
(8 M 1:1)
OH
OH
OH
HO
O
OH
HO
4 M HCl/
MeOH
butoxycarbonyl)amino]-3,4-ditert-
O
C25H51
OH
O
Cl
NH3
HN
2
OH
butyldimethylsilyloxyoctadecan-1-ol (4)
OH
53% over 2 steps
OH
r.t.,1 h
O
O
R
R
OH
A solution of phytosphingosine (18.0g, 43.2mmol) in
CH2Cl2 (600mL) at 0°C was treated sequentially with
TBSOTf (49.5mL, 217.2mmol) and 2,6-lutidine (75mL).
There mixture was stirred at 0°C at first, and then warmed
to 25°C and stirred at this temperature for 4h, after which
time, CH3OH (150mL) was added and stirring was contin-
ued for 10min. The solvent was then removed under
reduced pressure, and the residue taken up in Et2O (450mL)
and washed sequentially with H2O (450mL), NaHCO3
solution (450mL), and brine (450mL). The organic phase
was dried over Na2SO4, filtered, and evaporated to give
crude compound 10 as a colorless oil (98% crude), which
was used directly in the next step without any further
purification.
Et3N (7.20mL, 51.9mmol) and Boc2O (9.9g, 45.0mmol)
were added sequentially to crude compound 10 (28.5g,
43.2mmol) dissolved in THF (390mL). After 2h, the reac-
tion mixture was concentrated under reduced pressure, dis-
solved in EtOAc (450mL), and washed with H2O (3×
450mL) and brine (450mL). The organic phase was dried
over Na2SO4, filtered, and evaporated to give crude com-
pound 7, which was used directly in the next step without
any further purification (98% crude).
OH
1
R = -C14H29
KRN7000
silica gel chromatograpgy needed
Scheme 5. Synthesis of KRN7000.
resulting in amine 1. Treating a biphasic mixture of amine
1 in THF/8-M aqueous NaOAc with hexacosanoyl chlo-
ride provided the crude product KRN7000. Purification of
the crude residue by silica gel flash column chromatogra-
phy (gradient: CHCl3 to 15% MeOH in CHCl3) afforded
the final product KRN7000 as a white solid (53% over
two steps). (Scheme 5) The purity of the prepared
KRN7000 analyzed by HPLC was about 94% (see the
Supporting Information), which has the same quality as
those sold by commercial supplies (e.g. the indicated
purities of KRN7000 from several main commercial
resources are >99% based on TLC (the Funakoshi);
>95% based on TLC (Sigma-Aldrich); 95% based on LC
(J&K).). Both of the two steps proved effective on over
2-gram-scale.
Conclusion
A solution of 7 (33.0g, 51.9mmol) in THF (600mL)
under a N2 atmosphere at 0°C was treated with HF·pyridine
(7.80mL of a 70% solution, 298.5mmol) in THF–pyridine
(41.7mL, 65:35). The reaction mixture was stirred for
30min at 0°C and then allowed to warm to rt. After 1h,
the mixture was quenched by the addition of NaHCO3
solution (28.5mL) and stirred for 10min. The reaction
mixture was extracted with EtOAc (2× 450mL), and the
combined organic phase was washed with brine (450mL)
and then filtered. Removal of the volatiles under reduced
pressure and purification of the residue by flash column
chromatography afforded primary alcohol 4 as a light yel-
lowish oil (21.6g, 81% over three steps). 1H NMR
(400MHz, CDCl3): δ 5.22 (d, J=8.3Hz, 1H), 4.09 (d,
J=7.4Hz, 1H), 3.85 (s, 1H), 3.73 (s, 2H), 3.60 (s, 1H),
3.01 (s, 1H), 2.02 (s, 1H), 1.67 (s, 1H), 1.41 (s, 10H), 1.23
(s, 26H), 0.88 (d, J=7.3Hz, 21H), 0.08 (s, 9H). 13C NMR:
(151MHz, CDCl3): δ 79.19, 77.45, 76.06, 63.19, 60.15,
52.26, 34.07, 31.91, 29.66, 28.42, 25.97, 22.67, 20.92,
In summary, a practical and scalable procedure for the
synthesis of KRN7000 based on the glycosyl iodide
method was developed. This procedure involved a total
of eight steps to obtain the highly pure product KRN7000
on gram scale from the commercially available starting
materials d-galactose and the phytosphingosine. Two key
advantages of this procedure are that only three column
chromatographic purifications were needed and the use
of azido groups in the glycosyl acceptor was avoided.
Experimental
Unless otherwise noted, all materials and dry solvents
were used as received from Adamas-beta® without fur-
ther purification. 1H and 13C NMR spectra were recorded
on Varian Mercury 400-MHz or Bruker 600-MHz spec-
trometers. Chemical shifts are reported in parts per mil-
lion (ppm) relative to TMS (δ 0). NMR data are
presented as follows: chemical shift, multiplicity
(s = singlet, d = doublet, t = triplet, dd = doublet of dou-
blet, m = multiplet and/or multiple resonances), cou-
pling constant in hertz (Hz), integration. All NMR
C35H75Si2 NNaO5+
14.09, −3.78. ESI-MS: m/z calcd. for
[M+Na]+ 668.5, found 668.5. The physical data matched
those previously reported.31
1
signals were assigned on the basis of H NMR, 13C
Synthesis of (2S,3S,4R)-2-[(N-tert-
butoxycarbonyl)amino]-3,4-di-tert-
butyldimethylsilyloxy-1-O-(2,3,4,6-tetrakis-
O-trimethylsilyl-α-d-galactopyranosyl)
octadecane (2)
NMR, COSY, HSQC, and HMBC experiments. Mass
spectra were recorded on a Q-Tof Ultima Global mass
spectrometer or a Shimadzu LCMS-IT-TOF mass spec-
trometer. TLC-analysis was performed on silica gel 60
F254 (Huang Hai Inc.) with detection by UV-absorption
(254 nm) when applicable, and by spraying with a solu-
tion of (NH4)6Mo7O24·H2O (25 g L−1) in 5% sulfuric acid
in ethanol followed by charring. All reactions were car-
ried out under an argon atmosphere.
TMSI (3.25 mL, 23.89 mmol) was added to a solution of
per-silylated galactose 11 (13.0 g, 23.89 mmol) in dry
CH2Cl2 (95 mL) at 0 °C. The reaction mixture was stirred
under an N2 atmosphere for 30 min. The solvent was