A short, concise route to diphosphatidylglycerol (Cardiolipin) and its variants

Abstract

A new approach is described for the synthesis of the cardiolipin family of phospholipids that uses phosphonium salt methodology. The method involves the reaction of 2-O-protected glycerol with a trialkyl phosphite derived from 1,2-diacylsn-glycerol in the presence of pyridinium bromide perbromide and triethylamine to afford the phosphoric triesters. The synthesis involves three steps and allows the preparation of a wide range of cardiolipins with different substitution patterns and chain lengths, including unsaturated derivatives. The use of inexpensive protecting groups and the ease of purification facilitate this synthetic route and allow its scale-up in a higher overall yield (72%) than the literature methods.

Synthesis of 1,3‐ and 1,2‐Diphosphatidylglycerol

“…Other synthetic approaches describe the use of phosphorylating agents such as cyclic enediol pyrophosphates [6][7][8], silver salts of PA [9,10], phosphorus oxychloride [11], and 2-chlorophenyl phosphorodi-(1,2,4-trizolide) [12]. As part of our ongoing research towards the synthesis of cardiolipin and its analogues, we have developed and reported convenient alternative methodologies [13][14][15] based on phosphoramidite chemistry [16,17]. However, all these methods utilize 2-O-protected glycerols along with the phosphorylation or condensation reagents.…”