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University of Arkansas

Synthesis of Bulky and Polar Galactonoamidines for the Inhibition of the Human α-Galactosidase

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

<p>Glycosidases are amongst the most abundant enzymes in nature. This is due to their role in the degradation of carbohydrates which are the major source of carbon or earth. The absence or malfunction of glycosidases is implicated in numerous diseases such as cancers, diabetes, and lysosomal storage disorders, which make them important drug targets for study in medicinal chemistry. The seminal work by Pauling and Wolfenden showed that enzymes bind to their substrate at the transition state with very strong affinity. Wolfenden estimated the dissociation constant to be around 10-22M. This encouraged the design of glycosidase inhibitors which mimicked one or more features of the transition state. The notable features of the transition state of glycosidases include the development of a positive charge on the anomeric carbon atom, and the distortion of the sugar ring into one of a boat, an envelope, or a half-chair conformation to accommodate the formed positive charge. </p> <p>The glyconoamidine family of inhibitors emerged as a class of compounds to mimic both the positive charge and distorted chair conformation of the transition state of glycosidases. Research in the Striegler group identified a library of galactonoamidines as highly potent competitive inhibitors of several β-galactosidases, with inhibition constants in the low nanomolar to picomolar range. The work described here summarizes an effort towards the synthesis of polar and bulky galactonoamidines for the inhibition of the human α-galactosidase. Following a protocol previously established in the group, the precursor galactothionolactam was synthesized and coupled with several amines to yield a library of perbenzylated galactonoamidines. Hydrogenation of the perbenzylated galactonoamidines in the presence of palladium on carbon afforded some of the desired compounds, whereas the others were unsuccessful. </p>

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science in Chemistry (MS)
Level thesis:degree_level
Thesis
Year dc:date.available
2021

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Orizu, Ifedi
Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
  • McIntosh, Matthias C.
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Moradi, Mahmoud
  • Fan, Chenguang

Subjects

dc:subject × 7

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/4073
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:scholarworks.uark.edu:etd-5623

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
University of Arkansas
Base URL
scholarworks.uark.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Orizu, Ifedi. Synthesis of Bulky and Polar Galactonoamidines for the Inhibition of the Human α-Galactosidase. Thesis thesis, 2021. https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/4073