The intramolecular stabilizing effects of O-benzoyl substituents as a driving force of the acid-promoted pyranoside-into-furanoside rearrangement.

Furanoside derivatives are broadly present in the antigenic structures of pathogenic microorganisms and play a key role in their recognition by the host immune system. Despite the high demand for vaccine and diagnostic development, their chemical synthesis remains challenging. During the development of a new methodology for the synthesis of galactofuranoside building blocks, we encountered an unexpected predominance of the furanoside form in the equilibrium mixture of benzoylated β-galactosides. Since the furanoside form is typically less stable and is usually present only in minor amounts, we turned to computational studies to elucidate the driving force of this pyranoside-into-furanoside isomerisation. The DFT B3LYP-D3 approach was employed for this task with additional validation of its results at DLPNO-CCSD(T) level for the lowest energy conformers. The results demonstrate that the van-der-Waals interactions between phenyl rings of the benzoate substituents are crucial for the stabilization of the furanoside isomer. This outcome could not be rationalized within the framework of conventional carbohydrate chemistry, as the key intramolecular interactions determining the equilibrium lie outside the carbohydrate ring system. Consideration of such effects is essential to rationalize the reactivity of structurally complex and densely protected carbohydrate compounds.