Towards the 21st century - The emerging importance of oligosaccharide synthesis

Abstract

Recent progress in glycobiology has made the synthesis of oligosaccharides of prime importance for biomedical studies. Two such syntheses are described in order to illustrate our current research in this area. The first concerns the synthesis of oligosaccharides corresponding to the capsular polysaccharide of the yeast Cryptococcos neoformans, the second is the synthesis of a highly branched octasaccharide corresponding to the cell surface lipopolysaccharide of the Gram-negative bacterium Moraxella catarrhalis. In both syntheses extensive use was made of thioglycosides as glycosyl donors or as glycosyl donor precursors.