Synthesis of an Fmoc-Asn-heptasaccharide building block and its application to chemoenzymatic glycopeptide synthesis

Abstract The Fmoc-protected heptasaccharide asparagine building block β-GlcNAc-(1→2)-α-Man-(1→3)-[β-GlcNAc-(1→2)-α-Man-(1→6)]β-Man-(1→4)-β-GlcNAc-(1→4)-β-GlcNAc-(Fmoc)Asn was obtained by chemical synthesis. Two flexible strategies were developed with optimized conditions for the simultaneous debenzylation of the sugar and the amino acid part. The heptasaccharide asparagine building block is a partial structure of many glycoproteins and can be used for glycopeptide synthesis in solution and on the solid phase. In this work the heptasaccharide asparagine was elongated in solution to an Fmoc-glycopentapeptide methylester. After chemical cleavage of the Fmoc group the methylester was removed enzymatically by chymotrypsin. The use of β-(1→4)-galactosyltransferase and α-(2→6)-sialyltransferase in the presence of alkaline phosphatase allowed the efficient transfer of four sugar units to the acceptor resulting in an undecasaccharide glycopentapeptide.