Total Synthesis of Mannopeptimycins α and β

The mannopeptimycins are a class of glycopeptide natural products with unusual structures and potent antibiotic activity against a range of Gram-positive multidrug-resistant bacteria. Their cyclic hexapeptide core features a pair of unprecedented β-hydroxyenduracididines (l- and d-βhEnd), an O-glycosylated d-Tyr carrying an α-linked dimannose, and a β-methylated Phe residue. The d-βhEnd unit also carries an α-linked mannopyranose at the most hindered N of its cyclic guanidine ring. Herein, we report the first total synthesis of mannopeptimycin α and β with fully elaborated N- and O-linked sugars. Critically, a gold-catalyzed N-glycosylation of a d-βhEnd substrate with a mannosyl ortho-alkynylbenzoate donor enabled the synthesis of the most challenging N-Man-d-βhEnd unit with excellent efficiency and stereoselectivity. The l-βMePhe unit was prepared using a Pd-catalyzed C–H arylation method. The l-βhEnd, d-Tyr(di-Man), and l-βMePhe units were prepared in gram quantities. A convergent assembly of the cyclic peptide scaffold and a single global hydrogenolysis deprotection operation provided mannopeptimycin α and β.