9-Azido-9-deoxy-2,3-difluorosialic Acid as a Subnanomolar Inhibitor against Bacterial Sialidases

A library of 2(a),3(a/e)-difluorosialic acids and their C-5 and/or C-9 derivatives were chemoenzymatically synthesized. Pasteurella multocida sialic acid aldolase (PmAldolase), but not its Escherichia coli homologue (EcAldolase), was found to catalyze the formation of C5-azido analogue of 3-fluoro(a)-sialic acid. In comparison, both PmAldolase and EcAldolase could catalyze the synthesis of 3-fluoro(a/e)-sialic acids and their C-9 analogues although PmAldolase was generally more efficient. The chemoenzymatically synthesized 3-fluoro(a/e)-sialic acid analogues were purified and chemically derivatized to form the desired difluorosialic acids and derivatives. Inhibition studies against several bacterial sialidases and a recombinant human cytosolic sialidase hNEU2 indicated that sialidase inhibition was affected by the C-3 fluorine stereochemistry and derivatization at C-5 and/or C-9 of the inhibitor. Opposite to that observed for influenza A virus sialidases and hNEU2, compounds with axial fluorine at C-3 were better inhibitors (up to 100-fold) against bacterial sialidases compared to their 3F-equatorial counterparts. While C-5-modified compounds were less-efficient antibacterial sialidase inhibitors, 9-N₃-modified 2,3-difluoro-Neu5Ac showed increased inhibitory activity against bacterial sialidases. 9-Azido-9-deoxy-2-(e)-3-(a)-difluoro-N-acetylneuraminic acid [2(e)3(a)DFNeu5Ac9N₃] was identified as an effective inhibitor with a long effective duration selectively against pathogenic bacterial sialidases from Clostridium perfringens (CpNanI) and Vibrio cholerae.