Synthesis of Bisdesmosidic Oleanolic Acid Saponins via a Glycosylation-Deprotection Sequence under Continuous Microfluidic/Batch Conditions.

We report the first synthesis of a series of bisdesmosidic oleanolic acid saponins using microflow reactor Comet X-01 via a continuous flow glycosylation-batch deprotection sequence. The main results of this study can be summarized as follows: (1) The microfluidic glycosylation of oleanolic acid at C-28 was achieved in quantitative yield and was applied to the synthesis of six C-28-monoglycosidic saponins. (2) The microfluidic glycosylation of oleanolic acid at C-3 was achieved in good yield without orthoester byproduct formation and was applied to the synthesis of three bisdesmosidic saponins. (3) The continuous synthesis of saponins via a microfluidic glycosylation-batch deprotection sequence was achieved in four steps involving two purifications. Thus, the continuous microfluidic glycosylation-deprotection process is expected to be suitable for the preparation of a library of bisdesmosidic oleanolic acid saponins for in vivo pharmacological studies.