Present Status in the Chemistry of Hexuronic Acids Found in Glycosaminoglycans and their Mimetic Aza-Sugars Analogues

Abstract

In this paper, we shed light on the recent methodologies used for preparing uronic acids; the typical components of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). The L-ido synthon is a key challenge in oligosaccharide synthesis and there is a constant need for its efficient preparation. Difficulties in obtaining these rare sugars from natural sources have required chemists to develop general and simple routes for their syntheses. The conformational flexibility of L-iduronic acid is analyzed to better understand its remarkable protein adaptability and resulting diverse biological activities and its impact on oligosaccharides synthesis. The synthesis of the new type of 1-N-iminosugars that represented glycosidase and glycosyltransferase inhibitors and served as chemotherapeutic agents is discussed in the final section.