Coupling Reactions of Anhydro-Aldose Tosylhydrazones with Boronic Acids

A catalyst-free coupling reaction between O-peracetylated, O-perbenzoylated, O-permethylated, and O-permethoxymethylated 2,6-anhydro-aldose tosylhydrazones (C-(β-d-glycopyranosyl)formaldehyde tosylhydrazones) and aromatic boronic acids is reported. The base-promoted reaction is operationally simple and exhibits a broad substrate scope. The main products in most of the transformations were open-chain 1-C-aryl-hept-1-enitol type compounds while the expected β-d-glycopyranosylmethyl arenes (benzyl C-glycosides) were formed in subordinate yields only. A mechanistic rationale is provided to explain how a complex substrate may change the well-established course of the reaction.

A brief insight to the role of glyconanotechnology in modern day diagnostics and therapeutics

Carbohydrate-protein and carbohydrate-carbohydrate interactions are very important for various biological processes. Although the magnitude of these interactions is low compared to that of protein-protein interaction, the magnitude can be boosted by multivalent approach known as glycocluster effect. Nanoparticle platform is one of the best ways to present diverse glycoforms in multivalent manner and thus, the field of glyconanotechnology has emerged as an important field of research considering their potential applications in diagnostics and therapeutics. Considerable advances in the field have been achieved through development of novel techniques, use of diverse metallic and non-metallic cores for better efficacy and application of ever-increasing number of carbohydrate ligands for site-specific interaction. The present review encompasses the recent developments in the area of glyconanotechnology and their future promise as diagnostic and therapeutic tools.

Engineering Carbohydrate-Based Particles for Biomedical Applications: Strategies to Construct and Modify

Carbohydrate-based micro/nanoparticles have gained significant attention for various biomedical applications such as targeted/triggered/controlled drug delivery, bioimaging, biosensing, etc., because of their prominent characteristics like biocompatibility, biodegradability, hydrophilicity, and nontoxicity as well as nonimmunogenicity. Most importantly, the ability of the nanoparticles to recognize specific cell sites by targeting cell surface receptors makes them a promising candidate for designing a targeted drug delivery system. These particles may either comprise polysaccharides/glycopolymers or be integrated with various polymeric/inorganic nanoparticles such as gold, silver, silica, iron, etc., to reduce the toxicity of the inorganic nanoparticles and thus facilitate their cellular insertion. Various synthetic methods have been developed to fabricate carbohydrate-based or carbohydrate-conjugated inorganic/polymeric nanoparticles. In this review, we have highlighted the recently developed synthetic approaches to afford carbohydrate-based particles along with their significance in various biomedical applications.

Fluorescent Neoglycoprotein Gold Nanoclusters: Synthesis and Applications in Plant Lectin Sensing and Cell Imaging

Carbohydrate-protein interactions mediate fundamental biological processes, such as fertilization, cell signaling, or host-pathogen communication. However, because of the enormous complexity of glycan recognition events, new tools enabling their analysis or applications emerge in recent years. Here, we describe the first preparation of neoglycoprotein functionalized fluorescent gold nanoclusters, containing a biantennary N-glycan G0 as targeting molecule, ovalbumin as carrier/model antigen, and a fluorescent gold core as imaging probe (G0-OVA-AuNCs). Subsequently, we demonstrate the utility of generated G0-OVA-AuNCs for specific sensing of plant lectins and in vitro imaging of dendritic cells.

Glyco-gold nanoparticles: synthesis and applications

Glyco-gold nanoparticles combine in a single entity the peculiar properties of gold nanoparticles with the biological activity of carbohydrates. The result is an exciting nanosystem, able to mimic the natural multivalent presentation of saccharide moieties and to exploit the peculiar optical properties of the metallic core. In this review, we present recent advances on glyco-gold nanoparticle applications in different biological fields, highlighting the key parameters which inspire the glyco nanoparticle design.