Abstract
Galactofuranose metabolism is a good target for the development of novel chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of some microbial infections. This is a valid objective because galactofuranose is absent in mammals. Two enzymes are involved in the biosynthesis of molecules containing galactofuranose: a mutase, which catalyzes the interconversion of UDP‐Gal__p__ and UDP‐Gal__f__, and D‐galactofuranosyltransferases. The mechanism of action of the mutase and its inhibition is currently being investigated, whereas studies on the galactofuranosyltransferases have been hampered by the lack of a labeled galactofuranose nucleotide. In the present work we describe the chemical synthesis of UDP‐α‐D‐[6‐^3^H]Gal__f__ and we prove its effectiveness for incorporation of radioactive galactofuranose into a natural acceptor. This is the first report on the chemical synthesis of a labeled donor of galactofuranose with the potential for studying the galactofuranosyltransferases independently from the UDP‐Gal__p__ mutase. (© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2005)