An efficient synthesis of 1,6-anhydro-N-acetylmuramic acid from N-acetylglucosamine

Abstract

A novel synthesis of 1,6-anhydro-N-acetylmuramic acid is described, which proceeds in only five steps from the cheap starting material N-acetylglucosamine. This efficient synthesis should enable future studies into the importance of 1,6-anhydromuramic acid in bacterial cell wall recycling processes.

Keywords

• N-acetylmuramic acid
• anhydrosugars
• antibiotic resistance
• bacterial cell wall recycling
• carbohydrate synthesis