Glucuronic acid derivatives as branching units for the synthesis of glycopeptide mimetics

Natural glycopeptides and glycoproteins exhibit a large structural diversity, which can be mimicked by synthetic glycopeptide derivatives to assist the investigation of biological functions and structure-activity relationships. Here, dendronized saccharides were synthesized to provide glycosyl amino acids, equipped with a branching element for the preparation of branched glycopeptide mimetics. An optimized Staudinger-type reaction served as key reaction en route to the complex glycopeptide 14, in which three mannose moieties were connected to the branched glucuronyl scaffold.