A review of chemical methods for the selective sulfation and desulfation of polysaccharides

Emiliano Bedini; Antonio Laezza; Michelangelo Parrilli; Alfonso Iadonisi

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2017.07.017

A review of chemical methods for the selective sulfation and desulfation of polysaccharides

Carbohydr Polym. 2017 Oct 15:174:1224-1239. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2017.07.017. Epub 2017 Jul 8.

Authors

Emiliano Bedini¹, Antonio Laezza², Michelangelo Parrilli³, Alfonso Iadonisi⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Complesso Universitario Monte S. Angelo, via Cintia 4, I-80126 Napoli, Italy. Electronic address: ebedini@unina.it.
² Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Complesso Universitario Monte S. Angelo, via Cintia 4, I-80126 Napoli, Italy. Electronic address: antonio.laezza@unina.it.
³ Department of Biology, University of Naples Federico II, Complesso Universitario Monte S. Angelo, via Cintia 4, I-80126 Napoli, Italy. Electronic address: parrilli@unina.it.
⁴ Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Complesso Universitario Monte S. Angelo, via Cintia 4, I-80126 Napoli, Italy. Electronic address: iadonisi@unina.it.

PMID: 28821048
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2017.07.017

Abstract

Sulfated polysaccharides are known to possess several biological activities, with their sulfation pattern acting as a code able to transmit functional information. Due to their high biological and biomedical importance, in the last two decades many reports on the chemical modification of their sulfate distribution as well as on the regioselective insertion of sulfate groups on non-sulfated polysaccharides appeared in literature. In this Review we have for the first time collected these reports together, categorizing them into three different classes: i) regioselective sulfation reactions, ii) regioselective desulfation reactions, iii) regioselective insertion of sulfate groups through multi-step strategies, and discussing their scope and limitations.

Keywords: Desulfation; Polysaccharide modifications; Regioselectivity; Semi-synthesis; Sulfation.

Publication types

Review