Monosaccharide Derivatives with Low-Nanomolar Lectin Affinity and High Selectivity Based on Combined Fluorine-Amide, Phenyl-Arginine, Sulfur-π, and Halogen Bond Interactions

The design of small and high-affinity lectin inhibitors remains a major challenge because the natural ligand binding sites of lectin are often shallow and have polar character. Herein we report that derivatizing galactose with un-natural structural elements that form multiple non-natural lectin-ligand interactions (orthogonal multipolar fluorine-amide, phenyl-arginine, sulfur-pi, and halogen bond) can provide inhibitors with extraordinary affinity (low nanomolar) for the model lectin, galectin-3, which is more than five orders of magnitude higher than the parent galactose; moreover, is selective over other galectins.