Fucofullerenes as tight ligands of RSL and LecB, two bacterial lectins.

A series of water-soluble glycofullerenes containing up to 24 fucose residues have been prepared. These compounds were tested against the two bacterial fucose-binding lectins LecB and RSL, and C60(E)12 bearing 24 fucose residues appeared to be the best known inhibitor of both lectins to date. We have shown that increasing both the valency and the length of the spacer between the central core and the peripheral sugars can be beneficial for the affinity.