Synthetic studies on glycosphingolipids from protostomia phyla: synthesis of amphoteric glycolipid analogues from the porcine nematode, Ascaris suum.

A novel amphoteric glycosphingolipid, cholinephosphoryl-(-->6)-beta-D-GlcpNAc-(1-->3)-beta-D-Manp-(1-->4)-beta-D-Glcp-(1-->)-Cer, isolated from the porcine parasitic nematode, Ascaris suum, may be expected to be involved in host-parasite interactions. This glycosphingolipid analogue containing octyl residue in place of ceramide was synthesized as follows: The key reaction of this synthetic procedure is the formation of a intramolecular aglycon delivery (IAD) approach for beta-selective mannosylation. Then, a coupling of phosphocholine group at the position C-6'' of 16 was attempted using 2-chloro-2-oxo-1,3,2-dioxaphospholane, followed by reaction of the resulting cyclic phosphate intermediate with anhydrous trimethylamine to give 17.