Project description
How sweet it is: Achieving better control over glycosidation reactions
Glycans, also known as carbohydrates, saccharides or sugars, are ubiquitous in cells and play critical roles in cellular processes. They are polymers made up of different combinations of monomers or monosaccharides that form complex 3D structures. These glycans are also often linked to other non-sugar molecules. One of the important ways this is achieved is through glycosidation or the formation of glycosidic bonds. Given the critical role of glycans in important application domains, including biomedicine, energy and biotechnology, the EU-funded SWEET-PI project will investigate routes to better synthetic control over the multiple steps and species involved in glycosidation reactions.
Objective
Progress in chemical synthesis has provided access to a large variety of complex glycostructures, having a major impact in the expansion of Glycoscience. Central to carbohydrate chemistry is the glycosidation reaction, which involves the formation of a glycosidic bond between donor and acceptor molecules. It is commonly accepted that this process requires the formation of transient ionic species, whose stability, conformational properties and interactions determine to a large extend the reaction outcome. In principle, these elusive species are stabilized by means of inter- and intramolecular interactions, and in fact, this is a key feature for the activity of glycosidases and glycosyltransferases, typically requiring the participation of electron-rich functional groups, such as carboxylates. Interestingly, aromatic/carbohydrate interactions have too been detected and evaluated as supramolecular recognition motifs but, to the best of our knowledge, never at the reaction intermediate level, despite being frequently invoked to play a major role during enzymatic catalysis. Our hypothesis in this project revolves around the idea that stacking interactions involving electron-rich aromatic systems can be employed to stabilize the glycosyl oxocarbenium ion and to enhance the glycosyl acceptor reactivity; in the first case, these contacts might increase the life-time of the cationic intermediates, facilitating their detection and potentially allowing the modulation of the glycosidic donor in order to better control the stereochemical course of the reaction. Alternatively, CH/pi complexes involving the glycosyl acceptor could enhance the electron density of the reactive functional group, thus its nucleophilicity. This project aims to test both aspects of the carbohydrate/aromatic interaction employing a bioorganic approach based on the design, synthesis and systematic analysis of appropriate molecular models.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules carbohydrates
- natural sciences chemical sciences catalysis
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme -
H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF-EF-RI - RI – Reintegration panel
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2018
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
28006 MADRID
Spain
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.