Ferrocenyl-Labeled Sugar Amino Acids: Conformation and Properties

Novel organometallic sugar amino acid conjugates 1–5 have been prepared by amide coupling of O-protected N-acetylmuramic acid and iso-muramic acid (2-[3-amino-2, 5-dihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)oxan-4-yl]oxypropanoic acid) with 1-aminoferrocene, 1-aminoferrocene-1′-carboxylic acid (H-Fca-OH), or 1, 1′-diaminoferrocene, respectively. The influence of the ferrocenyl moiety and presence of additional remote potential hydrogen atom acceptors and donors at the ferrocenyl core on the conformation and lipophilicity is investigated by TLC, IR, NMR, and CD spectroscopic methods augmented by density functional calculations. Furthermore, the redox potential of the ferrocene/ferrocenium couple is tuned by…