Chemical Synthesis of Glycans and Glycoconjugates

Peter H. Seeberger; Hermen S. Overkleeft

doi:10.1101/glycobiology.4e.53

Chemical Synthesis of Glycans and Glycoconjugates

Review

In: Essentials of Glycobiology [Internet]. 4th edition. Cold Spring Harbor (NY): Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; 2022. Chapter 53.

Authors

Peter H. Seeberger, Hermen S. Overkleeft

Book Editors

Book Affiliations

¹ Distinguished Professor of Medicine and of Cellular & Molecular Medicine, Co-Director, Glycobiology Research and Training Center, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA
² Professor of Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Director, National Center for Functional Glycomics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
³ Distinguished Professor of Cellular & Molecular Medicine, Co-Director, Glycobiology Research and Training Center, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA
⁴ Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Chair, Professor of Cell Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, USA
⁵ Sr. Eminent Scholar in Drug Discovery, Georgia Research Alliance William Henry Terry Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA
⁶ Professor of Mycology, ETH Zürich, Institute of Microbiology, Department of Biology, Zürich, Switzerland
⁷ Distinguished Research Professor, Georgia Athletics Association Professor in Complex Carbohydrate Research, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA
⁸ Endowed Chair and Professor, Yabumoto Department of Intractable Disease Research, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Immunology Frontier Research Center, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
⁹ Distinguished Professor of Molecular Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia and Principal Research Leader, Institute for Glycomics, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia
¹⁰ Professor and Eminent Scholar Emeritus, Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA
¹¹ Professor, Departments of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
¹² Director of Max-Planck-Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam, Germany, Professor, Freie Universität, Berlin, Germany

PMID: 35536962
Bookshelf ID: NBK579957
DOI: 10.1101/glycobiology.4e.53

Excerpt

Pure glycans of defined structure are essential research tools in glycobiology. Unlike proteins and nucleic acids, which can be obtained in homogeneous forms by recombinant expression and polymerase chain reaction (PCR), respectively, glycans produced in biological systems are heterogeneous. Furthermore, the quantities that can be obtained from biological systems are often small. Chemical synthesis can be used to obtain homogeneous glycans in larger quantities than are available from most cellular production systems. Chemical synthesis can be further employed to incorporate glycans into homogeneous glycoproteins. This chapter summarizes the current state of the art in chemical methods to produce glycans. Enzymes can be used together with chemical methods to prepare diverse glycans (Chapter 54).

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