Photochemistry sheds light on the direct functionalisation of native sugars

A new photochemical reaction can create glycosidic bonds in ‘naked’, native sugars, without the need of protecting groups.

Whereas state-of-the-art synthetic methods use several steps, researchers have developed a ‘reactive intermediate’ that’s stable under bench conditions and easily couples with a variety of nucleophiles, including proteins. ‘I would have benefitted directly from this approach during my graduate work,’ says 2022 Nobel laureate Carolyn Bertozzi, an expert on sugar chemistry at Stanford University in the US. Replacing the oxygen in glycosidic bonds by other atoms, like carbon in the case of C–glycosides, makes more stable sugars and sugar mimics, with applications in drug development.