Ruthenium tetrazene complexes with general formula [Cp*RuCl(1,4-R 2 N 4)] (Cp* = η 5-C 5 Me 5), where R = benzyl (1), 2-fluorobenzyl (2), β-D-glucopyr anosyl-unprotected (3a) and acyl-protected (3b-d), 2-acetamido-β-Dglucopyranosyl-unprotected (4a) and acyl-protected (4b-d), propyl-β-D-glucopyranoside-unprotected (5a), and O-acetylated (5b), were synthesized and characterized using nuclear magnetic resonance and electrospray ionizationmass spectrometry. In addition, the molecular structure of 3b was determined using X-ray crystallography. The cytotoxicity of complexes against ovarian (A2780, SK-OV-3) and breast (MDA-MB-231) cancer cell lines and noncancerous cell line HEK-293 was evaluated and compared to cisplatin activity. The carbohydrate-modified complexes bearing acyl-protecting groups exhibited higher efficacy (in low micromolar range) than unprotected ones, where the most active 4d was superior to cisplatin up to five times against all investigated cancer cell lines; however, no significant selectivity was achieved. The complex induced apoptotic cell death at low micromolar concentrations (0.5 μM for A2780 and HEK293; 2 μM for SK-OV-3 and MDA-MB-231). K E Y W O R D S anticancer activity, glucose derivatives, ruthenium complexes, tetrazene ligands V. Hamala and A. Martišová contributed equally to this study.

Control of anomeric stereoselectivity in glycosylation with deoxofluorinated glycosyl donors is critical for assembly of fluorinated oligosaccharides. Here, we report the synthesis of benzylated 3-fluoro and 4fluoro analogues of phenyl 1-thioglucosazide and galactosazide donors and evaluation of their stereoselectivity in glycosylation of a series of model carbohydrate acceptors using the Tf 2 O/Ph 2 SO promoter system. Lowtemperature NMR revealed formation of covalent α-triflate and both anomers of oxosulfonium triflates under selected glycosylation conditions. This study demonstrates how the stereoselectivity depends on acceptor reactivity and glycosyl donor configuration. Reactive acceptors favor formation of 1,2-transβ-glycosides with both D-gluco and D-galacto donors, whereas poorly reactive acceptors favor formation of 1,2-cis-α-glycosides with D-galacto donors but are unselective with D-gluco donors.

Multiple fluorination of glycostructures has emerged as an attractive way of modulating their protein affinity, metabolic stability, and lipophilicity. Here we described the synthesis of a series of mono-, di- and trifluorinated N-acetyl-ᴅ-glucosamine and ᴅ-galactosamine analogs. The key intermediates are the corresponding multiply fluorinated glucosazide and galactosazide thioglycosides prepared from deoxyfluorinated 1,6-anhydro-2-azido-β-ᴅ-hexopyranose precursors by ring-opening reaction with phenyl trimethylsilyl sulfide. Nucleophilic deoxyfluorination at C4 and C6 by reaction with DAST, thioglycoside hydrolysis and azide/acetamide transformation completed the synthesis.

Galectins are widely expressed galactose-binding lectins implied, for example, in immune regulation, metastatic spreading, and pathogen recognition. N-Acetyllactosamine (Galβ1-4GlcNAc, LacNAc) and its oligomeric or glycosylated forms are natural ligands of galectins. To probe substrate specificity and binding mode of galectins, we synthesized a complete series of six mono-deoxyfluorinated analogues of LacNAc, in which each hydroxyl has been selectively replaced by fluorine while the anomeric position has been protected as methyl β-glycoside. Initial evaluation of their binding to human galectin-1 and -3 by ELISA and 19 F NMR T 2 -filter revealed that deoxyfluorination at C3, C4' and C6' completely abolished binding to galectin-1 but very weak binding to galectin-3 was still detectable. Moreover, deoxyfluorination of C2' caused an approximately 8-fold increase in the binding affinity towards galectin-1, whereas binding to galectin-3 was essentially not affected. Lipophilicity measurement revealed that deoxyfluorination at the Gal moiety affects log P very differently compared to deoxyfluorination at the GlcNAc moiety.