Chemoenzymatic methods for automated carbohydrate synthesis

University Of California-Davis, Davis CA

Investigators

Abstract

The Chemical Synthesis (SYN) Program in the Division of Chemistry supports the work of Professor Xi Chen of the University of California-Davis on developing efficient chemoenzymatic methods which can be readily adapted for automated synthesis of complex carbohydrates. Multistep one-pot-multienzyme processes are designed to synthesize tagged complex carbohydrates from simple mono- or disaccharides. The method allows efficient solution-phase synthesis complemented with facile column purification. The adaption of the proposed method to automated synthesis of carbohydrate will allow easy access to major naturally occurring mammalian carbohydrates even by non-specialists. The proposed research involves multi-disciplinary cutting-edge research in the fields of organic chemistry, biochemistry, and molecular biology, providing excellent training opportunity for graduate students, undergraduate students, and summer high school students. The new method proposed here will allow the efficient product of complex carbohydrates which are important molecules in biological systems. The products obtained will lead to a better understanding of their functions.