New chemistry trick attaches double sugar tags to lab-made peptides
Xu S, Hu F, Wang S, Wang W, Li Y
Medicinal Plants
This is pure synthetic chemistry for drug development and has no connection to plants, gardens, or the natural world.
Scientists found a new way to stick two sugar units onto a specific type of chemical bond found in proteins, using a straightforward reaction that works right in water. They used this trick to build sugar-coated peptides that could help target the liver or track molecules in the body with radioactive tags, which could be useful for future medicines.
Key Findings
The method installs two unprotected glycosyl (sugar) units directly onto disulfide bonds in a single, mild, open-flask aqueous reaction
The reaction uses bench-stable glycosyl sulfinates as sugar donors and tert-butyl hydroperoxide as oxidant, proceeding via a radical mechanism
The technique was applied to create liver-targeting glycopeptides and sugar-linked affibody-radionuclide conjugates for potential diagnostic or therapeutic use
chevron_right Technical Summary
Chemists developed a simple, water-based method to attach two sugar molecules at once onto disulfide bonds, making it easier to build sugar-decorated peptides for drug delivery and medical imaging.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Bis-S-Glycosylation of Disulfides.
Carbohydrates play essential roles throughout biology, making them key targets in biological research and drug development. While multivalent presentation of carbohydrates is widely recognized as c...
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