A Simple and Efficient Method for Synthesis of sn-Glycero-Phosphoethanolamine

An efficient three-step strategy for the convenient synthesis of Sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (GroPEtn) from a commercially available 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (DPPE) is reported. Direct hydrolysis of DPPE produces a complex inseparable mixture, hence a protection and deprotection strategy is employed to prepare GroPEtn. The primary amine of DPPE is protected with a highly stable acid-labile trityl group, followed by strong base hydrolysis of N-trityl-DPPE gives N-trityl-GroPEtn. Further a mild, rapid, and efficient deprotection method is established using trifluoroacetic acid to remove N-trityl moiety, affords GroPEtn as a single product. This is the first semisynthetic approach and efficient method to produce GroPEtn with a total yield of 66% in three steps. GroPEtn did not show any cytotoxicity against human kidney (HK-2) cells and reporter gene assay for activation of Keap1-Nrf2-mediated antioxidant defense mechanism showed no significant effects.