Glycopolymers of Various Architectures-More than Mimicking Nature

Carbohydrates have a highly important role in biological functions. The increasing understanding of their biological interactions has also triggered a strongly increased interest in the preparation of synthetic glycopolymers of various architectures and well-defined structure which can mimic biological functions in a less complex environment. In the last few years synthetic approaches in polymer science have been refined and newly developed in order to achieve complex carbohydrate architectures and to make use of them in various areas like glycomics, biotechnology, biosensors, and medicine. Besides the use of especially controlled radical polymerization techniques, highly efficient polymer analogous reactions that can be carried out in aqueous media have been developed and applied to linear and dendritic macromolecules. Self assembly aspects and their effectiveness in biological functions have been assessed.