Chemical Synthesis of Fluorescent Analogs of a- and b-Series Gangliosides

Fluorescent ganglioside analogs recently developed by our group using a fully chemical method have enabled the observation of the behavior, interaction, and lipid raft formation of gangliosides in cell plasma membranes at the single-molecule level. In this chapter, we describe the chemical synthesis of fluorescent analogs of a- and b-series gangliosides previously reported by our group. The procedures for key chemical reactions-glycosylation, global deprotection of gangliosides, and fluorescent labeling of gangliosides-are described in detail.