The 10 glyphaeaside alkaloids isolated
from the roots
of Glyphaea brevis were originally purported as piperidine-based
1-C-alkylated iminosugars, with the A-, B-, and C-type
glyphaeasides bearing l-DFJ, DGJ, and DNJ ring configurations,
respectively. Subsequent investigations have revealed glyphaeaside
C as being a pyrrolidine-based iminosugar with a DMDP ring configuration
via total synthesis of the revised structure. In this work, side chain
diastereomers of the originally purported structure of glyphaeaside
C (10) and two related α-1-C-alkylated
DNJ derivatives were synthesized from a common precursor, which was
prepared in turn via stereoselective Grignard addition to a protected d-glycosylamine, followed by a reductive amination–cyclization
sequence. Glycosidase inhibitory activity studies revealed general
structure 10 as having potent inhibition against various
α-glucosidases and weak inhibition against almond β-glucosidase
in agreement with similar DNJ-based iminosugars and in contrast to
natural glyphaeaside C, suggesting that the (1,2-dihydroxy-3-phenyl)propyl
moiety does not play a particularly vital role in the inhibitory modes
of action of either compound. Furthermore, the absolute configuration
of natural glyphaeaside C was proposed as that of d-DMDP,
and the structures of the A- and B-type glyphaeasides were revised
as 1-deoxy-DALDP and DALDP derivatives, respectively, based on interpretation
of their reported NMR spectroscopic data.