In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) included bacterial resistance to antibiotics in its list of the top ten global public health threats. As antibiotic resistance in bacteria becomes an increasing problem, the need to design and develop new antibacterial agents is critical. Attractive targets include enzymes involved in the formation of the bacterial cell wall, in particular the enzyme UDP-N-acetylglucosamine enolpyruvyl transferase (MurA), which catalyzes the very first step of peptidoglycan synthesis.
The aim of this master's thesis was to develop a synthetic route for the preparation of N-2- and C-6-substituted glucosamine derivatives as potential inhibitors of MurA ligase. Glucosamine was used to mimic the natural substrate UDP-N-acetylglucosamine (UNAG) to achieve proper alignment of the functional groups. This approach allows us to produce inhibitors that can enter bacteria and reversibly inhibit the MurA enzyme.
The purity and identity of the synthesized compounds were characterized by thin layer chromatography, nuclear magnetic resonance, high resolution mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy, specific optical rotation and by measuring the melting point.
Starting from N-acetylglucosamine, we first protected the anomeric hydroxyl group (-OH) in the form of a methyl acetal. Then we protected the -OH groups at positions C-4 and C-6 as benzylidene acetals. Next, we performed base hydrolysis of the amide bond, and the free amino group was protected as a benzyl carbamate. This was followed by removal of the benzylidene acetal protection, resulting in the formation of compound 6, which was our starting compound for all subsequent reactions. We then introduced silyl protection for the free -OH group at the C-6 site, while the -OH groups at the C-3 and C-4 sites were protected by the formation of benzoyl esters. We then removed the silyl protection and isolated compound 9. We then performed alkylation of the free -OH group with chloroacetic acid and hydrolyzed the benzoyl protecting groups. However, the formation of compounds 11 and 12 could not be confirmed due to low reaction yields, which prevented isolation and analysis of the products. In future studies, it would be useful to focus on finding more stable protecting groups to increase the possibility of producing the final product with potential inhibitory activity.
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