The involvement of complex carbohydrates in a wide variety of disease-related cellular processes has given this class of natural compounds tremendous diagnostic and therapeutic potential. While scientists have been able to successfully isolate certain classes of natural carbohydrates, the availability of pure natural isolates is still inadequate to address the challenges offered by modern glycoscience. As a consequence, chemical synthesis has become a viable means to obtain both natural complex carbohydrates and unnatural analogues thereof. Unfortunately, chemical synthesis of oligosaccharides of even moderate complexity still remains a considerable challenge, and many more complex structures are not available at all. As such, the development of efficient methods for chemical glycosylation and expeditious oligosaccharide and glycoconjugate synthesis remains a demanding area of research.
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