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High-throughput Synthesis of Carbohydrates and Functionalization of Polyanhydride Nanoparticles
Published on: July 6, 2012
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Modular Enzymatic Construction of Glycan Libraries via SWITCH: A Solid-Phase Platform with Temperature-Controlled
Ruoyu Jiao1, Chuanyu Fu1, Jie Zheng1
1State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, School of Food Science and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China.
ACS Synthetic Biology
|August 12, 2025
Summary
A new SWITCH platform enables efficient enzymatic carbohydrate synthesis using temperature-responsive polymers. This approach simplifies purification and enhances enzyme activity for producing complex glycans.
Area of Science:
- Carbohydrate chemistry and enzymology
- Biomolecular synthesis and glycoscience
Background:
- Enzymatic synthesis of carbohydrates offers stereoselectivity and regioselectivity advantages.
- Current solid-phase methods face challenges with enzyme compatibility, steric hindrance, and substrate accessibility, limiting efficiency.
- Material transfer losses and labor-intensive purification hinder broader application of enzymatic carbohydrate synthesis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a universal and efficient platform for enzymatic carbohydrate synthesis that overcomes limitations of existing methods.
- To integrate enzymatic reactions with solid-phase strategies for streamlined purification and reduced material loss.
- To enhance enzymatic accessibility and catalytic activity in carbohydrate synthesis.
Main Methods:
- Development of the SWITCH (support-based workflow integrated temperature-sensitive enzymatic carbohydrate synthesis) platform using a temperature-responsive polymer support.
- Immobilization of substrates onto the polymer support via click chemistry for homogeneous aqueous synthesis.
- Utilizing diverse enzyme modules for constructing distinct glycosylation pathways and product isolation via temperature-induced precipitation and filtration.
Main Results:
- Successful synthesis of a library of structurally defined glycans, including human milk oligosaccharides and glycosaminoglycans.
- Demonstrated enhanced enzymatic accessibility and catalytic activity under homogeneous aqueous conditions.
- Achieved simplified product isolation by filtration without organic solvents through temperature-induced polymer precipitation.
Conclusions:
- The SWITCH platform provides a universal and efficient method for precise glycan synthesis.
- This approach overcomes compatibility issues in solid-phase enzymatic synthesis, improving efficiency and productivity.
- The developed platform lays the foundation for advancements in glycoscience and biopharmaceutical applications.
Keywords:
carbohydratesenzymatic synthesisglycosaminoglycanshuman milk oligosaccharidespoly(2-oxazoline)ssolid-phase synthesisMore Related Videos
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