Custom Polysaccharide Synthesis

The inherent structural and chemical variability of polysaccharides provide an enormous unexploited design space for the production of a range of new biobased materials. With world-leading technology platforms, plus years of experience in polysaccharide synthesis, Creative Biolabs is dedicated to helping our clients design and prepare high-quality polysaccharides.

Introduction of Polysaccharides

Along with nucleic acids and proteins, polysaccharides, are one of three classes of biopolymers that exist ubiquitously in nature. Structurally, polysaccharides are biomacromolecules, in which monosaccharide units are joined together by O-glycosidic linkages. The O-glycosidic linkage is formed by the condensation or dehydration reaction of the hemiacetal hydroxyl group of one sugar (glycosyl donor) and a hydroxyl group of another sugar unit (glycosyl acceptor). Building blocks can be single sugars (acids) or multiple sugars (acids). Compared to proteins and nucleic acids whose primary structures are simply defined by types and consequences of monomers, the primary structures of polysaccharides vary in composition, sequence, regio- and stereo-types of linkages, branching, and molecular weight. The vast diversity of possible polysaccharides and their corresponding properties offer an almost unlimited source of biobased gel-forming materials. Particularly, viscoelastic and biological properties are often critical in medical applications.

Fig.1 Synthesis of the O-antigenic polysaccharide of Salmonella Newington and its analogue. (Xiao, 2017)

Chemical Synthesis of Polysaccharides

There are generally three strategies are used to synthesize polysaccharides, including step-wise glycosylation, condensation polymerization, and ring-opening polymerization. However, in contrast to nucleic acids and proteins, whose synthesis can be efficiently achieved by commercial automated synthesizers, chemical synthesis of polysaccharides with well-defined structures remains difficult. The main difficulties lie in controlling the regioselectivity of multiple hydroxyl groups with similar reactivity, controlling the stereochemistry of the glycosidic linkages, and obtaining polysaccharides with high molecular weight. Despite these ongoing challenges, significant progress has been made for the chemical synthesis of natural and unnatural polysaccharides. There are two methods often used in the chemical synthesis: 1) polycondensation of tritylated sugar cyanoethylidene derivatives, which is used to synthesize stereoregular homopolysaccharides and regular heteropolysaccharides from oligosaccharide monomers; 2) ring-opening polymerization of anhydrosugars, which enables the synthesis of high molecular weight (1→6)-glycopyranans and (1→5)-glycofuranans, as well as random heteropolysaccharides.

Custom Polysaccharides Synthesis at Creative Biolabs

Structure-function relationships, such as linking the chemical structure of polysaccharides with materials properties will increasingly inform design and synthesis of polysaccharides. Equipped with world-leading technology platforms and professional scientific staff, Creative Biolabs has accumulated rich experience in the design and synthesis of polysaccharides. Our scientists have employed several powerful strategies for polysaccharide synthesis.

Various polysaccharides, such as linear polysaccharides, branched polysaccharides, hyperbranched polysaccharides, non-O-glycosidic linked polysaccharidemimetics, as well as pseudopolysaccharides derived from non-carbohydrate sources, have been successfully achieved. Our polysaccharide list contains items including but not limited to:

• Polysaccharides with different functions, such as amine polysaccharide, thiol polysaccharide, and carboxyl polysaccharide.
• Polysaccharides with different structures, such as alginate, cellulose, chitosan, dextran, and xylan.
• Polysaccharides with different labels, such as fluorescein, biotin, near-Infrared or rhodamine.

Polysaccharides will revolutionize medical applications by creating functionalized and responsive material. The synthesis of custom polysaccharides will open a new biomaterial world. Enriched with experience and state-of-the-art facilities, Creative Biolabs offers top-quality service for polysaccharide synthesis to facilitate our clients’ project development. For more detailed information, please feel free to contact us or directly send us an inquiry.

Reference

1. Xiao, R.; Grinstaff, M.W. Chemical synthesis of polysaccharides and polysaccharide mimetics. Progress in Polymer Science. 2017, 74:78-116.

Related Services:

1. Custom Monosaccharide Synthesis
2. Custom Oligosaccharide Synthesis
3. Custom Nucleotide Sugar Synthesis
4. Custom Glycolipid Synthesis
5. Custom Carbohydrate Antigen Synthesis