Developing a solid-phase method for the enzymatic synthesis of heparan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate backbones

Abstract

Despite the recent progress on the solution-phase enzymatic synthesis of heparan sulfate (HS) and chondroitin sulfate (CS), solid-phase enzymatic synthesis has not been fully investigated. Here, we describe the solid-phase enzymatic synthesis of HS and CS backbone oligosaccharides using specialized linkers. We demonstrate the use of immobilized HS linker to synthesize CS, and the use of immobilized CS linker to synthesize HS. The linkers were then digested with chondroitin ABCase and heparin lyases, respectively, to obtain the products. Our findings uncover a potential approach for accelerating the synthesis of structurally homogeneous HS and CS oligosaccharides.

Keywords: carbohydrates; chemoenzymatic synthesis; chondroitin sulfate; heparan sulfate; solid phase synthesis.