The screening of natural products in the search for new lead compounds against Alzheimer's disease has unveiled several plant polyphenols that are capable of inhibiting the formation of toxic β-amyloid fibrils. Gallic acid based gallotannins are among these polyphenols, but their antifibrillogenic activity has thus far been examined using "tannic acid", a commercial mixture of gallotannins and other galloylated glucopyranoses. The first total syntheses of two true gallotannins, a hexagalloylglucopyranose and a decagalloylated compound whose structure is commonly used to depict "tannic acid", are now described. These depsidic gallotannins and simpler galloylated glucose derivatives all inhibit amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) aggregation in vitro, and monogalloylated α-glucogallin and a natural β-hexagalloylglucose are shown to be the strongest inhibitors.
Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; amyloid β-peptides; glucogallin; polyphenols; tannic acid.
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