Contribution Application of Saccharides to the Synthesis of Biologically Active Compounds

Chemistry laboratories at universities are often given a unique nickname based on their research areas such as “metal catalyst specialist” or “natural product specialist” with or without knowing. Our laboratory might be called “sugar specialist”. Generally, saccharides have been synonymous for a “formidable” project for many chemists. They misunderstand that the laboratory dealing with saccharides must require specialized techniques. However, if one understands the properties of saccharides, the methods commonly used in organic chemistry can be applied. Our laboratory is currently engaged in two research areas saccharide chemistry and process chemistry. Although these two areas may seem totally different, they share fundamental principles of chemistry and are closely related to each other. From this standpoint, we have applied saccharide chemistry as a basis of synthetic chemistry to approach various projects. In this article we will describe our recent research for the synthesis of biologically active compounds from saccharides and their usefulness in the organic synthetic chemistry and pharmaceutical chemistry. We would be delighted if the readers would have a chance to feel more familiar with saccharide chemistry through this article.