With the hope of mimicking the chemical and biological properties of
natural 6-
O-methyl-
D-glucose-containing polysaccharides (MGPs),
synthetic 6-
O-methyl-
D-glucose-containing polysaccharides (
sMGPs)were designed and synthesized from
mages/gifchars/alpha.gif" BORDER=0>-,
mages/gifchars/beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="middle">-, and
mages/gifchars/gam
ma.gif" BORDER=0 >-cyclodextrins (CDs). The synthetic route proved to beflexible and general, to furnish a series of
sMGPs ranging from 6-mer to 20-mer. A practical and scalablemethod was discovered selectively to cleave the CD derivatives and furnish the linear precursors to theglycosyl donors and acceptors. The Mukaiya
ma glycosidation was adopted to couple the glycosyl donorswith the glycosyl acceptors. Unlike in the 3-
O-methyl-
D-
mannose-containing polysaccharide (
sMMP)series, the amount of the Mukaiya
ma acid required in the
sMGP series increased with an increase ofsubstrate size; that is, for large oligomers, more than one equivalent of the acid was required.