title: Solid phase synthesis of oligosaccharides.
abstract: Oligosaccharides are involved in many fundamental biological processes. However, relatively little is known about the precise molecular mechanism of action of these macromolecules, because the complexity of these structures impeded their synthesis by chemical methods analogous to those employed to create oligonucleotides and peptides. Herein, we describe recently developed techniques for solid-supported oligosaccharide synthesis. Several key aspects of solid phase synthesis are highlighted and examined, including the choice of resin and the challenge of real-time reaction monitoring. Recent examples of manual and automated solid-supported syntheses of complex oligosaccharides are given and the automated solid phase synthesis of the tumor-associated carbohydrate antigen Globo-H is highlighted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomolecular Systems, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Research Campus Potsdam-Golm, Potsdam, Germany.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weishaupt
authors.forename: Steffen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Eller
authors.forename: Peter H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Seeberger
mesh_terms: D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D020650:Combinatorial Chemistry Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D006031:Glycosylation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D009844:Oligosaccharides