Automation in Glycan Synthesis

Abstract

Nucleic acids, proteins, and glycoconjugates, the three major marcomolucules, are key to the signal transduction processes in living organisms. Nucleic acids can be synthesized via chemical and biological methods with the aid of the polymerase chain reaction, and protein sequences, which are encoded by DNA, can therefore be easily determined, produced, and manipulated through recombinant DNA technology. In addition, automatic synthesizers are available for the synthesis of these linear polymers using a single protecting-group strategy in the iterative process. Saccharides, however, are often branched and made with a diverse set of enzymes. There is no information carrier that encodes a particular saccharide sequence. Traditional synthesis of saccharides requires multiple protection and deprotection steps and stereocontrol in each glycosylation reaction. Development of automatic saccharide synthesis can speed up the preparation of saccharides for study and thus facilitate the progression of glycoscience research.