Synthesis and Anti-microbial Activity of Novel Phosphatidylethanolamine-N-amino Acid Derivatives.

The study involved synthesis of five novel amino acid derivatives of phosphatidylethanolamine isolated from egg yolk lecithin employing a three step procedure i) N-protection of L-amino acids with BOC anhydride in alkaline medium ii) condensation of - CO2H group of N-protected amino acid with free -NH2 of PE by a peptide linkage and iii) deprotection of N-protected group of amino acids to obtain phosphatidylethanolamine-N-amino acid derivatives in 60-75% yield. The five L-amino acids used were L glycine, L-valine, L-leucine, L-isoleucine and L-phenylalanine. The amino acid derivatives were screened for anti-baterial activity against B.

Chemo-enzymatic synthesis of rac 1-O-alkyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine and its analogues.

The synthesis of rac 1-O-alkyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholines (6a-c), blood platelet activating ether lipid analogues has been achieved in a four-step sequence from epichlorohydrin (1). Etherification of epichlorohydrin with different alcohols namely tetradecyl (2a), hexadecyl (2b) and octadecyl (2c) alcohols gave glycidyl ethers (3a-c) with 78-80% yields. The second step involved opening of the epoxide by acetic anhydride to give acetylated products (4a-c, 76-78% yield), which were subsequently hydrolyzed selectively, a key step of the method employing a 1,3 specific lipase to obtain rac 1-O-alkyl-2- acetylglycerol (5a-c) with 45-50% yields.