Fleetamine (3-O-α-d-glucopyranosyl-swainsonine): The synthesis of a hypothetical inhibitor of endo-α-mannosidase

3-O-α-d-Glucopyranosyl-swainsonine was originally proposed ¹⁷ as a potential inhibitor of the mammalian enzyme endo-α-mannosidase, but its synthesis has not been reported. Herein we report the total synthesis of this enigmatic compound, utilizing a halide-ion catalysed glycosylation of a swainsonine lactam with a glucosyl iodide donor as the key step. The resulting inhibitor was evaluated as an inhibitor of human endo-α-mannosidase, and as a ligand for bacterial orthologs from Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron and Bacteroides xylanisolvens, including active-centre variants, although no evidence for binding or inhibition was observed. The surprising lack of binding was rationalized by using structural alignment with an endo-α-mannosidase inhibitor complex, which identified deleterious interactions with the swainsonine piperidine ring and an essential active site residue.