Stereoselective chemoenzymatic phytate transformations provide access to diverse inositol phosphate derivatives

Phosphorylated myo-inositols (InsPs) are essential cytoplasmic signaling molecules, while their lipidated analogs (PtdInsPs) play a crucial role in membrane signaling. Stereoselective synthesis of these compounds has been achieved through various methods, predominantly using the meso compound myo-inositol as a starting material. However, phytate (InsP₆), also a meso compound, is the most abundant inositol derivative in plants - far more prevalent than myo-inositol itself. Despite its abundance, phytate has been rarely used in synthetic strategies for accessing a variety of chiral inositol phosphates and their derivatives through selective dephosphorylations on a preparative scale. Here, we report gram-scale (stereo)selective dephosphorylations of phytate using phytases and demonstrate the application of these products in generating modified InsPs through a transient phosphitylation approach. Notably, the bacterial effector XopH efficiently desymmetrizes meso-phytate to yield enantiomerically pure 1-OH-InsP₅. This transformation renders the 1-position accessible for further modifications, which, in biological systems, is where glycerolphosphate diesters are attached. By using selective dephosphorylations with phytases in concert with chemoselective telescoping reaction sequences, this approach greatly advances the stereoselective synthesis of inositol phosphates and their derivatives, such as glycerophosphoinositols, from abundant InsP₆.