Recent Advances in the Development and Synthesis of Carbohydrate-Based Molecules with Promising Antibacterial Activity

Abstract

With the rise of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), innovation in antibacterial drug research and development is urgently needed and strongly encouraged by the World Health Organization (WHO). Carbohydrates are valuable bioactive scaffolds to be explored in this context, and because of their unique multifunctionality, stereochemical diversity, and natural protein-binding profile, they come across as attractive starting materials for the synthesis of antimicrobial agents with innovative mechanisms of action (MoA). In this concise review, state-of-the-art methodologies for the synthesis of an array of promising and recently developed carbohydrate-based molecules with antibacterial activity are presented and discussed. By describing successful case studies as platforms for the scrutiny of carbohydrate modification and coupling approaches in organic chemistry, this work summarizes the latest research efforts in this area, ultimately encouraging the design and synthesis of new and much-needed glycoantibiotic leads for pharmaceutical development.