title: Intramolecular carbohydrate-aromatic interactions and intermolecular van der Waals interactions enhance the molecular recognition ability of GM1 glycomimetics for cholera toxin.
abstract: The design and synthesis of two GM1 glycomimetics, 6 and 7, and analysis of their conformation in the free state and when complexed to cholera toxin is described. These compounds, which include an (R)-cyclohexyllactic acid and an (R)-phenyllactic acid fragment, respectively, display significant affinity for cholera toxin. A detailed NMR spectroscopy study of the toxin/glycomimetic complexes, assisted by molecular modeling techniques, has allowed their interactions with the toxin to be explained at the atomic level. It is shown that intramolecular van der Waals and CH-pi carbohydrate-aromatic interactions define the conformational properties of 7, which adopts a three-dimensional structure significantly preorganized for proper interaction with the toxin. The exploitation of this kind of sugar-aromatic interaction, which is very well described in the context of carbohydrate/protein complexes, may open new avenues for the rational design of sugar mimics.
authors.affiliation: Università di Milano-Dipartimento di Chimica Organica e Industriale e Centro di Eccellenza CISI via Venezian 21, 20133 Milano, Italy. anna.bernardi@unimi.it
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bernardi
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Arosio
authors.forename: Donatella
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Potenza
authors.forename: Inmaculada
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Medina
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mari
authors.forename: F Javier
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Cañada
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jiménez-Barbero
mesh_terms: D002236:Carbohydrate Conformation; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000737:chemistry*; D002772:Cholera Toxin / Q000737:chemistry*; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D006841:Hydrocarbons, Aromatic / Q000737:chemistry*; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D012015:Reference Standards; D013237:Stereoisomerism
chemical_list: D002241:Carbohydrates; D006841:Hydrocarbons, Aromatic; D009844:Oligosaccharides; C037563:G(M1)-oligosaccharide; D002772:Cholera Toxin