Zi-Xuan Hu, Shu-Rui Li, Qing-Jun Xia, Ting Wang, Josef Voglmeir, Göran Widmalm and Li Liu
Org. Biomol. Chem., 2024,22, 7485-7491
DOI:
10.1039/D4OB00874J,
Paper
Here we report an enzymatic approach to synthesize N-formylneuraminic acid (Neu5Fo) containing sialosides, through a five-enzyme cascade. This method stands as an alternative to traditional chemical syntheses, aiming for precision and efficiency in generating sialosides with a tailored N-formyl group generated directly from formic acid. The newly synthesized Neu5Fo was characterized using various NMR techniques revealing a conformational equilibrium at the amide bond of the formyl group in slow exchange on the NMR time scale with a trans : cis ratio of ∼2 : 1. This work not only suggests potential for exploring the biological roles of sialosides but also points to the possibility of developing novel therapeutic agents.