Well-Defined Oligo- and Polysaccharides as Ideal Probes for Structural Studies

Polysaccharides are the most abundant
organic materials in nature,
yet correlations between their three-dimensional structure and macroscopic
properties have not been established. Automated glycan assembly enables
the preparation of well-defined oligo- and polysaccharides resembling
natural as well as unnatural structures. These synthetic glycans are
ideal probes for the fundamental study of polysaccharides. According
to molecular modeling simulations and NMR analysis, different classes
of polysaccharides adopt fundamentally different conformations that
are drastically altered by single-site substitutions. Larger synthetic
polysaccharides are obtained via a “LEGO”-like approach
as a first step toward the production of tailor-made carbohydrate-based
materials.