[en] The aim of this project is to graft a sugar moiety onto polyfunctional natural phenolic compounds. This should enhance their water solubility. The choice of an adequate sugar such as mannose could provide cellular recognition. The synthesis route was first tested on cinnamyl alcohol which is structurally close to the base pattern of natural phenolic compounds.
Two compounds are tested to catalyse the glycosilation between cinnamyl alcohol and D-mannose. The first one is an enzyme, the -glucosidase from almond, and the second one is a mineral acid catalyst immobilized on silica. Results show that -glucosidase is able to synthetize cinnamyl mannoside from mannose and cinnamyl alcohol. Furthermore, enzyme-catalyzed route lead to only one product and is so more specific than the chemical route where several products are observed. The obtaining of one product with a unique structure is interesting for the fundamental study of structure-function relationships (Interaction of the product with model membranes by Isothermal Titration Calorymetry and with the Langmuir Trough technique). In a future work, the reaction will be tested with more complex molecules (for example coniferyl alcohol).
Unité de Chimie Biologique Industrielle
Communauté française de Belgique - CfB
Synthèses enzymatiques appliquées aux produits issus de la biomasse végétale