title: Direct chemical synthesis of the beta-D-mannans: the beta-(1-->2) and beta-(1-->4) series.
abstract: The direct syntheses of a beta-(1-->2)-mannooctaose and of a beta-(1-->4)-mannohexaose are reported by means of 4,6-O-benzylidene-protected beta-mannosyl donors. The synthesis of the (1-->2)-mannan was achieved by means of the sulfoxide coupling protocol, whereas the (1-->4)-mannan was prepared using the analogous thioglycoside/sulfinamide methodology. In the synthesis of the (1-->4)-mannan, the glycosylation yields and stereoselectivities remain approximately constant with increasing chain length, whereas those for the (1-->2)-mannan consist of two groups with the formation of the tetra- and higher saccharides giving yields and selectivities consistently lower than those of the lower homologues. The decrease in yield after the trisaccharide in the (1-->2)-mannan synthesis is attributed to steric interference by the n-3 residue and is consistent with the collapsed, disordered structure predicted by early computational work. The consistently high yields and selectivities seen in the synthesis of the (1-->4)-mannan are congruent with the more open, ordered structure originally predicted for this polymer. The lack of order in the structure of the (1-->2)-mannan, as compared to the high degree of order in the (1-->4)-mannan, is also evident from a comparison of the NMR spectra of the two polymers and even from their physical nature: the (1-->2)-mannan is a gum and the (1-->4)-mannan is a high melting solid.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois, 845 West Taylor Street, Chicago, IL 60607-7061, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Crich
authors.forename: Abhisek
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Banerjee
authors.forename: Qingjia
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yao
mesh_terms: D002236:Carbohydrate Conformation; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D008351:Mannans / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D013237:Stereoisomerism
chemical_list: D008351:Mannans