Chemical Synthesis of Glycopeptides

Abstract

Despite its omnipresence in nature, comparatively little is known about how glycosylation affects the function and activity of proteins. To understand the role of protein glycosylation at the molecular level, it is important to have access to homogeneous glycoproteins and glycopeptides. Chemical synthesis is particularly suited to provide uniform glycoprotein material, thus playing a pivotal role for the advancement of glycobiology. This chapter summarizes the recent progress achieved in glycopeptide synthesis including new glycosylation methods, enzymatic transformations, chemoselective ligation and recombinant expression.