Custom Glycan Synthesis Services

A Source of Your Glycans and Glycan Derivatives

Glycans are usually attached to lipids and proteins to form glycolipid and glycoproteins. It is involved in a variety of biological process including immunological response, cell-cell communication, and inflammation reaction. Hence it is very important to synthesize glycans with high-purity to investigate glycobiology. With extensive experience in glycan synthesis, Creative Biolabs offers a full range of custom glycan synthesis services with the highest quality and the most competitive price.

Background of Glycan Synthesis

Glycans are defined as the compounds consisting of a large number of monosaccharides linked glycosidically. Usually, they are found to attach to proteins and sphingolipids in biological systems and are involved in important functions such as inflammation, the immunological response, metastasis, and bacterial and viral infection. Due to the inherent chemical properties of oligosaccharides, glycan synthesis is more complex than the other major classes of biomolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids. In biological synthesis systems, glycans are heterogeneous and their synthesis is no-template while proteins and nucleic acids are produced in homogeneous forms based on the template strand. Chemical synthesis of specific complex oligosaccharide structures that are not easily isolated from natural material or accessible via enzymatic routes usually involves a considerable number of synthetic steps.

Custom Glycan Synthesis Service at Creative Biolabs

Different strategies have been developed to make custom glycan synthesis possible, such as chemical synthesis method and chemoenzymatic synthesis. In order to increase the production of glycan, chemical synthesis method has been used to produce homogeneous glycans in larger quantities than are available from most cellular production systems. Besides, enzymes can be combined with chemical methods to further simplify the synthesis process of glycan. Moreover, chemical synthesis can be further used to incorporate polysaccharides into homogeneous glycoproteins.

Based on various synthesis strategies, Creative Biolabs offers our clients comprehensive services for custom glycan synthesis, including but not limited to:

• Custom Monosaccharide Synthesis
• Custom Oligosaccharide Synthesis
• Custom Nucleotide Sugar Synthesis
• Custom Glycolipid Synthesis
• Custom Polysaccharide Synthesis
• Custom Carbohydrate Antigen Synthesis

Highlights

• Glycans with chemical modifications
• Glycans with stable isotope labeling, such as ²H, ¹³C, ¹⁵N, or ¹⁸O
• Strict quality control by various instruments, such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS), etc.
• A powerful platform that allows to provide a comprehensive custom glycan synthesis service
• A variety of glycan synthesis strategies including enzymatic and chemical methods
• A professional expert staff comprised of prominent academic and industry leader

Creative Biolabs is committed to offering our customers a comprehensive service of custom glycan synthesis at an affordable price within tight deadlines. Over the past years, we have helped many customers attain their on-demand synthesis of custom glycans, including N-glycans, O-glycans, glycosaminoglycans, GPI-anchors, and glycoconjugates. Please feel free to contact us for more details.

Published data

Automated glycan assembly (AGA) is used to rapidly synthesize well-defined glycan oligomers. However, irregular aggregates are often formed during the AGA deprotection step, which may reduce the overall yield of aggregation-prone glycans. In this study, the authors explored the role of phosphate as an auxiliary group in the synthesis of sialylated N-glycans as well as cellulosic oligosaccharides. Phosphorylation is a mild glycan modification method that can be chemically added to glycan sites that need to be protected during the AGA process, masking specific glycan residues and increasing the solubility of oligomers in the reaction medium, thereby preventing premature aggregation of glycans. In addition, at the end of glycan synthesis, the authors used alkaline phosphatase (ALP) to remove phosphates, thereby rapidly revealing the native glycan structure. This study reveals that phosphate can be used as an auxiliary group to facilitate the synthesis of well-defined oligosaccharides and self-assembling glycan materials.

Fig.1 Auxiliary process of phosphate in AGA process.¹

FAQs

Q1: Can you explain the difference between chemical synthesis and chemoenzymatic synthesis of glycans?

A1: Chemical synthesis involves the assembly of glycan structures using pure chemical reactions, which gives us control over specific structures and allows the creation of complex glycans that are difficult to obtain from natural sources. This approach allows for the production of homogeneous glycans in large quantities. Chemoenzymatic synthesis combines chemical methods with the use of enzymes, which can simplify processes and increase yields. Enzymes are selective and promote specific reactions that may be chemically challenging, such as the formation of glycosidic bonds. This hybrid approach is generally more efficient and versatile.

Q2: What kind of custom glycans can you synthesize? How do you perform quality control on the synthesized glycans?

A2: We offer a wide range of custom glycans, including monosaccharides, oligosaccharides, nucleotide sugars, glycolipids, glycoconjugates, etc. Our versatile platform and expert team enable us to meet a wide range of glycan synthesis needs. Moreover, we use a variety of analytical techniques to verify the purity, structure, and consistency of synthesized glycans. Detailed reports are provided to ensure transparency and confidence in product quality.

Q3: What are the main challenges of glycan synthesis? How do you address these challenges?

A3: One of the main challenges is the inherent complexity and diversity of glycan structures. The chemical synthesis of glycans involves multiple steps to form glycosidic bonds, which requires precise control and optimization. We leverage our extensive experience, advanced technologies, and strategies to address these challenges. By combining chemical and enzymatic methods with stringent quality control, we ensure the successful synthesis of target glycans.

Customer Review

References

1. Sletten, Eric T., et al. "Phosphates as Assisting Groups in Glycan Synthesis." ACS Central Science 10.1 (2023): 138-142. Distributed under Open Access license CC BY 4.0, without modification.

Related Services:

• Custom Glycopeptide Synthesis
• Custom Glycoprotein Synthesis
• Oligosaccharide Library Development