Synthesis and biological relevance of <i>N</i>-acetylglucosamine-containing oligosaccharides

El Ashry, El Sayed H.; Aly, Mohamed R. E.

doi:10.1351/pac200779122229

Pure Appl. Chem., 2007, Vol. 79, No. 12, pp. 2229-2242

http://dx.doi.org/10.1351/pac200779122229

Synthesis and biological relevance of N-acetylglucosamine-containing oligosaccharides*

El Sayed H. El Ashry^1,2 and Mohamed R. E. Aly³

¹ International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (HEJ Research Institute for Chemistry), Karachi University, Karachi, Pakistan
² On leave from Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt
³ Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt

Abstract: The structural diversity as well as the biological significance of N-acetylglucosamine-containing glycans are exemplified. The problem of forming the respective glycosidic bonds of synthetic targets is addressed. Special emphasis has been given to human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), in view of their biological relevance, and synthetic approaches of selected examples are reported.

*Invited contribution to a collection of papers for the IUPAC project 2005-042-1-300 "Chemistry for Biology". Other contributions to the project are published in this issue, pp. 2179-2366.