Usuki Sho, Patil Pratiksha Babgonda, Jiang Tiangao, Taki Naoko, Uesaka Yuma, Togawa Haru, Latthe Sanjay S, Liu Shanhu, Yamatoya Kenji, Nakata Kazuya
Graduate School of Bio-Applications and Systems Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, 2-24-16 Naka-cho, Koganei, Tokyo, 1840012, Japan.
Department of Applied Biological Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, 2641 Yamazaki, Noda, Chiba, 278-0022, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jul 1;15(1):21694. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-05778-4.
Recently, there has been a growing interest in rare sugars due to their potential applications in functional foods and pharmaceuticals. However, sustainable production methods for these compounds remain challenging due to their high cost, lengthy production times, and environmentally harmful reagents. Herein, we report a novel photocatalytic approach for synthesizing rare disaccharides from maltose, an abundant and renewable natural resource, under mild conditions at room temperature and atmospheric pressure using light as the energy source. The photocatalytic treatment of maltose using platinum compound-supported titanium oxide (PtCl/TiO₂) resulted in the formation of rare disaccharides, primarily 3-O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-D-arabinose and glucosyl-erythrose, which were characterized by HPLC, LC/MS, C NMR spectroscopy, and optical rotation measurements. Notably, biological evaluation of 3-O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-D-arabinose using HeLa and HEK293 cells demonstrated no cytotoxicity and negligible cellular uptake. Furthermore, enzymatic degradation studies using mouse intestinal α-glucosidase revealed significantly lower degradability compared to maltose, with minimal glucose production observed. These findings suggest that 3-O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-D-arabinose exhibits resistance to digestion and absorption in mammalian systems, highlighting its potential application as a low-calorie sweetener and a functional food ingredient. This study presents an environmentally benign synthetic route to rare disaccharides and demonstrates their promising biological properties.
近年来，由于稀有糖在功能性食品和制药领域的潜在应用，人们对其兴趣日益浓厚。然而，这些化合物的可持续生产方法仍然具有挑战性，因为它们成本高、生产时间长且使用对环境有害的试剂。在此，我们报道了一种新型光催化方法，可在室温及大气压的温和条件下，以光为能源，从丰富且可再生的自然资源麦芽糖合成稀有二糖。使用铂化合物负载的二氧化钛（PtCl/TiO₂）对麦芽糖进行光催化处理，生成了稀有二糖，主要是3-O-α-D-吡喃葡萄糖基-D-阿拉伯糖和葡萄糖基-赤藓糖，通过高效液相色谱（HPLC）、液相色谱-质谱联用（LC/MS）、碳核磁共振光谱（¹³C NMR）和旋光测量对其进行了表征。值得注意的是，使用HeLa细胞和HEK293细胞对3-O-α-D-吡喃葡萄糖基-D-阿拉伯糖进行的生物学评估表明，其无细胞毒性且细胞摄取可忽略不计。此外，使用小鼠肠道α-葡萄糖苷酶进行的酶降解研究表明，与麦芽糖相比，其降解性显著降低，观察到的葡萄糖生成量极少。这些发现表明，3-O-α-D-吡喃葡萄糖基-D-阿拉伯糖在哺乳动物系统中表现出抗消化和吸收的特性，突出了其作为低热量甜味剂和功能性食品成分的潜在应用。本研究提出了一种环境友好的稀有二糖合成路线，并证明了它们具有良好的生物学特性。
