Recent advances in the synthesis of heparan sulfate oligosaccharides

Abstract

Heparin (HP) and heparan sulfate (HS), a member of the glycosaminoglycan (GAG) family, are structurally related linear polyanionic polysaccharides. These complex sulfated polysaccharides can interact with hundreds of proteins and play essential roles in mediating or modulating a variety of physiological and pathological processes. Accumulated evidence has shown that the biological functions of HP and HS can be critically dependent upon their precise structure sequences. To decipher the sequence code of HS and HP, many research groups have focus on the development of novel strategies and synthetic methods for the assembling of heparin oligosaccharides during the last decade. The key developments since 2001 in the chemical or chemoenzymatic synthesis of heparin oligosaccharides are covered in this review. © 2012 Chinese Chemical Society and SIOC, CAS.