Synthesis of kojidextrins and their protein conjugates. Incidence of steric mismatch in oligosaccharide synthesis

Kojidextrins are biologically important oligosaccharides that are involved in many physiological processes including protein glycosylation and bacterial growth. As part of our project to explore the role kojidextrins may play in bacterial pathogenesis, here we report Synthetic routes to kojibiose (54), -triose (58), -tetraose (64), and -pentaose (69) equipped with alpha-linked (hydrazinocarbonyl)-pentyl aglycon, using linear and convergent strategies. In the search for a rapid convergent strategy for the construction of extended kojidextrins, four kojibiose donors (1-4) were synthesized that contain acyl- and ether-type protecting groups in various ratios. These were tested to probe the influence of diverse protecting group assemblies on their glycosyl donor ability. Attempted condensation of these donors with kojitriose and -tetraose accepters failed to give the desired products apparently because of steric mismatch between the donor and the acceptor moieties. A one-pot procedure was developed for the covalent attachment of the synthetic saccharides through their hydrazido group to human serum albumin (HSA) using Tietze's squarate method to give neoglycoproteins containing up to 28 saccharide units per HSA.