A paradigm shift in carbohydrate chemistry: stereocontrolled glycosylation

Carbohydrates play key roles for our diet and health and will be a cornerstone of sustainable materials in the future. They are, to a large degree, defined by the linkage between sugars: the glycosidic linkage. We wish to develop a new method for forming glycosidic linkages that will be the first completely selective glycosylation methodology. Research and development in glycoscience is crucially dependent on well-defined glycans and sufficient amounts of these can only be procured through chemical synthesis. However, the current methods for controlling the stereochemical outcome of glycosylation reactions are deficient and, to some extent, always affords mixtures. In this project, we will fundamentally change how this problem is addressed and attempt to develop completely new chemical methods for glycosylation with the potential to be a game-changer in glycoscience. A parallel can be drawn to how the invention of solid-phase synthesis of oligonucleotides and peptides has made these tools readily available and allowed great advances in genomics and proteomics research.