Methodology Development and Physical Organic Chemistry: A Powerful Combination for the Advancement of Glycochemistry

This Perspective outlines work in the Crich group on the diastereoselective synthesis of the so-called difficult classes of glycosidic bond: the 2-deoxy-beta-glycopyranosides, the beta-mannopyranosides, the alpha-sialosides, the alpha-glucopyranosides, and the beta-arabinofuranosides with an emphasis on the critical interplay between mechanism and methodology development.