Objective
This research aim at developing a synthetic way to construct dendritic macromolecules, the outer surface of which is to be covered by glycosidically-bound saccharide units. These homogeneous synthetic oligomers and polymers, having hyperbranched structures with a large number of terminal carbohydrate units, might reasonably be expected to be more efficient ligands for carbohydrate-binding proteins than individual saccharides.
The synthesis of these highly organised molecular structures may be based on two alternative approaches. The first one, the so-called divergent method, implies the use of a previously prepared high molecular weight dendrimer with a number of reactive surface functional groups as carriers of saccharides. The second one, which is a convergent method, consists of the initial preparation of dendrons, i.e. branched molecules emanating from a focal point, of an oligosaccharidic or cluster nature, followed by the attachment of these dendrons to an anchoring core. A comparison of the efficiency of the convergent and the divergent approaches, both from a synthetic point of view and with respect to the properties of corresponding target dendritic carbohydrates, is one of the important goals of this research.
The project is also related to glycoconjugate chemistry in one of its most challenging aspects - the development of high affinity multivalent carbohydrates capable of binding carbohydrate-recognising proteins more efficiently than natural ligands. It is expected that the hyperbranched dendritic neoglycoconjugates will model carbohydrate ligand (e.g. lectins, viral adhesins or monoclonal antibodies) of carbohydrate-binding proteins much better than neoglycoconjugates based on linear polymer or protein carriers. This type of molecule may be the basis for elaboration of carbohydrate therapeutics.
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
Data not availableCoordinator
B15 2TT BIRMINGHAM
United Kingdom