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Updated: Sep 24, 2026

Metabolic Glycoengineering of Sialic Acid Using N-acyl-modified Mannosamines
Published on: November 25, 2017
Synthesis and characterization of an anomeric sulfur analogue of CMP-sialic acid
1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0215, USA.
Abstract:
alpha-2,3-Sialyltransferase catalyzes the transfer of sialic acid from CMP-sialic acid (1) to a lactose acceptor. An analogue of 1 was synthesized in which the anomeric oxygen atom was replaced with a sulfur atom (1S). The key step in the synthesis of 1S was a tetrazole-promoted coupling of a cytidine-5'-phosphoramidite with a glycosyl thiol of a protected sialic acid. Compounds 1 and 1S were characterized for their activity in a sialyl transfer assay. The rate of solvolysis in aqueous buffer of analogue 1S was 50-fold slower than that of 1. Analogue 1S was found to be substrate for alpha-2,3-sialyltransferase. The K(m) of 1S was just 3-fold higher than that of 1, while the k(cat) of 1S was 2 orders of magnitude lower compared to 1.
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