Gram-Scale Synthesis of Chain-Deuterated Sphingosine and Its Derivatization to Produce Ceramide, Sphinganine and Sphingosine-1-phosphate

Graphical We report a gram-scale synthesis of sphingosines with different deuterated chains. The synthesis of highly stereoselective chain deuterated sphingosine was accomplished in five steps which started from hydrothermal platinum-catalyzed hydrogen/deuterium (H/D) exchange of protiated fatty acids. The subsequent synthesis of the deuterated-chain derivatives are also described. They were all characterized with deuterated content above 94 %. Sphingosine plays crucial roles in various cellular functions. Deuterated molecules are widely used as the important tools to explore the structure, property, and function of biochemical materials. We here report a gram-scale synthesis of sphingosines with different deuterated chains. The synthesis started from different protiated fatty acids, which underwent hydrothermal platinum-catalyzed hydrogen/deuterium (H/D) exchange to produce the deuterated chains with different length. The Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons (HWE) coupling of a chiral amino acid derivative with the deuterated chains generated the unsaturated ketone precursors. The following stereoselective reduction via cyclic Felkin–Anh transition led to the desired anti- amino alcohol geometry. This efficient protocol enabled the gram-scale synthesis of the chain-deuterated sphingosines. The subsequent synthesis of the chain-deuterated derivatives, i. e. ceramide, sphinganine and sphingosine-1-phosphate, is also described. Their deuterium content was simultaneously characterized by 1 H NMR and high-resolution mass spectrum (HRMS).