Enzymatic production of sphingophospholipid derivatives

Claim 1

A process for producing a sphingophospholipid derivative represented by the following formula (I) wherein A and R' are as defined below, which comprises reacting a sphingophospholipid represented by the following formula (II) wherein A is a moiety represented by the following formula (i) or the following formula (ii) in which R represents a saturated or unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbon group having 16 to 24 carbon atoms, and B represents (-CH 2 ) 2 N + (CH 3 ) 3 , (-CH 2 ) 2 NH 2 or -CH 2 CH(OH)CH 2 (OH), with a compound having an alcoholic hydroxyl group selected from the group consisting of (1) primary alcohol compounds having a primary alcoholic hydroxyl group and a C 1 -C 20 saturated or unsaturated aliphatic or aromatic hydrocarbon group R' which may be substituted by a substituent selected from halogen, amino, carboxyl and hydroxyl; primary alcohol compounds having a primary alcoholic hydroxyl group and a residue R' of a C 1 -C 20 saturated or unsaturated aliphatic or aromatic hydrocarbon containing in the molecule a linkage selected from ether, ester and amide linkages; and heterocyclic primary alcohol compounds having a primary alcoholic hydroxyl group and a heterocyclic residue R' selected from pyridoxine, cytidine, arabinocytidine and adenosine; (2) secondary alcohol compounds having a secondary alcoholic hydroxyl group and a C 3 -C 8 aliphatic hydrocarbon group R' which may be substituted by a substituent selected from halogen, amino,mono- or di-alkylamino of not more than 3 carbon atoms, and phenyl; and secondary alcohol compounds having a secondary alcoholic hydroxyl group and a C 4 -c 6 alicyclic hydrocarbon group R'; and (3) saccharides selected from pentoses having a pentose residue R' and a primary alcoholic hydroxyl group and hexoses having a hexose residue R' and a primary alcoholic hydroxyl group, in which the pentose residue R' or the hexose residue R' may be substituted by amino or acetylamino; and phenol glycosides of said saccharides, in the presence of phospholipase DM.