Research
Pulling sugars off salt activation
Nature · By Cheng-Chung Wang ·
The Brief
- A paper in Nature Catalysis, published online on 9 November 2026, reports a new approach to assembling oligosaccharides using activated sugars.
- The chemical assembly of oligosaccharides depends on the reactivity of the anomeric site.
- The paper's background notes that a Lewis acid-catalysed method for activating anomeric imidates was introduced in 1980.
Why it matters
Building sugar chains (oligosaccharides) chemically depends on how reactive the anomeric carbon is, so better activation methods can affect how these molecules are made in the lab.
Who’s affected
- synthetic and carbohydrate chemists
- #carbohydrate chemistry
- #oligosaccharides
- #glycosylation
- #catalysis
- #organic synthesis
Nature Catalysis, Published online: 09 November 2026; doi:10.1038/s41929-026-01634-4 The chemical assembly of oligosaccharides hinges on the reactivity of the anomeric site. In 1980, the introduction of a Lewis acid-catalysed method for the activation of anomeric imidates marked…
Timeline
Paper published online in Nature Catalysis
nature.com
Pulling sugars off salt activation