A simplified procedure for gram-scale production of sialylglycopeptide (SGP) from egg yolks and subsequent semi-synthesis of Man3GlcNAc oxazoline

Heterogeneity of glycan structures in native glycoconjugates always hampers precise studies on carbohydrate-involved biological functions. To construct homogeneous glycoconjugates from natural resource of homogeneous glycans is therefore a practical approach to solve this problem. We report here an optimized procedure for gram-scale production of sialylglycopeptide (SGP) containing a disialyl biantennary complex-type N-glycan from egg yolks. Our new procedure simplified the extraction process by treating the egg yolk powder with 40% acetone, avoiding massive emulsification, high-speed centrifugation, and sophisticated chromatography in reported methods. Subsequent semi-synthesis of the N-glycan core Man(3)GlcNAc oxazoline from SGP was accomplished for the first-time via glyco-trimming and successive oxazoline formation. This efficient semi-synthesis provides an alternative to the pure chemical approach that involves multi-step total synthesis and facilitates the application of endo-glycosidase-enabled chemoenzymatic synthesis of various homogeneous glycoconjugates. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.