Synthesis of structural variants of Staphylococcus aureus lipoteichoic acid (LTA)

Based on 1,2-O-isopropylidene-sn-glyerol, which is readily available from D-mannitol, five chiral building blocks for the construction of structural variants of Staphylococcus aureus LTA designed and synthesized. Ligation of these building blocks led readily to the target molecules 1 and 2. They demonstrated that the D-alanine residues at the glycerophosphate backbone are decisive for the activation of the immune system. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.