Nitropyridyl glycosides: new glycosyl donors for enzymatic transglycosylation

New glycosyl donors, 3-nitro-2-pyridyl and 5-nitro-2-pyridyl glycosides, pr oved to be effective for transglycosylation reaction catalyzed by glycosida ses, such as beta-galactosidase, B-glucosidase, and N-acetyl-beta-hexosamin idase. The high solubility in water and the high reactivity of the nitropyr idyl glycosides enabled the reactions under high concentrations of the dono rs and consequently rapid glycosyl transfer to glycosyl accepters. The yiel ds of the transglycosylated products with the nitropyridyl glycosides were much higher than those with conventional p-nitrophenyl glycosides. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.