Efficient chemical synthesis of methyl beta-glycosides of beta-(1----6)-linked D-galacto-oligosaccharides by a stepwise and a blockwise approach.

Bromoacetylation of methyl 2,3,4-tri-O-benzoyl-beta-D-galactopyranoside (1) followed by cleavage of the methoxyl group from the resulting 6-O-bromoacetyl derivative 2 with 1,1-dichloromethyl methyl ether gave 2,3,4-tri-O-benzoyl-6-O-bromoacetyl-alpha-D-galactopyranosyl chloride (3). Reaction of 3 with 1, promoted by silver trifluoromethanesulfonate, afforded methyl O-(2,3,4-tri-O-benzoyl-6-O-bromoacetyl-beta-D-galactopyranosyl)-(1----6) -2,3,4-tri-O-benzoyl-beta-D-galactopyranoside (12), bearing at O-6 of its non-reducing end-group the selectively removable bromoacetyl group. This was O-debromoacetylated and the disaccharide nucleophile 15 formed was again treated with 3, to give the analogous trisaccharide 18. This sequence of reactions was repeated to afford the analogous tetrasaccharide 20, showing the feasibility of stepwise construction of the title oligosaccharides. Similar reactions of 3 with 1,2,3,4-tetra-O-benzoyl-alpha- (7) and beta-D-galactopyranose (5) gave, respectively, O-(2,3,4-tri-O-benzoyl-6-O-bromoacetyl-beta-D-galactopyranosyl)-(1----6) -1,2,3,4-tetra-O-benzoyl-alpha- (14) and beta-D-galactopyranose (13). These could be separately converted into the same glycosyl halide, namely, alpha-(2,3,4-tri-O-benzoyl-6-O-bromoacetyl-beta-D-galactopyranosyl)-(1-- --6)-2,3,4-tri-O-benzoyl-alpha-D-galactopyranosyl chloride (16), by cleavage with 1,1-dichloromethyl methyl ether. The chloride 16 was treated with tri- and tetra-saccharide nucleophiles analogous to 15 to give, respectively, the corresponding pentasaccharide 23 and the hexasaccharide 25, demonstrating the possibility of the blockwise construction of higher beta-(1----6)-linked D-galacto-oligosaccharides. The disaccharide 12 was also obtained by the reaction of 1,2,3,4-tetra-O-benzoyl-6-O-bromoacetyl-beta-D-galactopryanose (6) with 1 in the presence of trimethylsilyl trifluoromethane-sulfonate. Similarly, the trisaccharide 18 and the tetrasaccharide 20 were obtained by the treatment of 13, respectively, with 1 and 15, showing that, as with their 1-O-acetyl counterparts, beta-1-benzoates of saccharides bearing at O-2 a group capable of neighboring-group participation can act under these conditions as glycosyl donors. Crystalline methyl beta-glycosides of (1----6)-beta-D-galacto-tetraose (22), -pentaose (24) and -hexaose (27) have been obtained for the first time, by deacylation (Zemplén) of their fully protected precursors.