Phosphonate and -fluorophosphonate analogs of D-glucose 6-phosphate as active-site probes of 1L-myo-inositol 1-phosphate synthase

Phosphate ester analogs in which the bridging oxygen is replaced with a methylene or fluoromethylene group are well known non-hydrolyzable mimics of use as inhibitors and substrate analogs for reactions involving phosphate esters. Properties of the replaced oxygen are often best mimicked by a mono-fluoromethylene group, but such groups are challenging to synthesize and can exist as two stereoisomers. Here, we describe the protocol for our method of synthesizing the a-fluoromethylene analogs of D-glucose 6-phosphate (G6P), as well as the methylene and difluoromethylene analogs, and their application in the study of 1L-myo-inositol-1-phosphate synthase (mIPS). mIPS catalyzes the synthesis of 1L-myo-inositol 1-phosphate (mI1P) from G6P, in an NAD-dependent aldol cyclization. Its key role in myo-inositol metabolism makes it a putative target for the treatment of several health disorders. The design of these inhibitors allowed for the possibility of substrate-like behavior, reversible inhibition, or mechanism-based inactivation. In this chapter, the synthesis of these compounds, expression and purification of recombinant hexahistidine-tagged mIPS, the mIPS kinetic assay and methods for determining the behavior of the phosphate analogs in the presence of mIPS, and a docking approach to rationalizing the observed behavior are described.