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 sacchari...

Abstract Background Epidermal cell walls have special structural and biological roles in the life of plant. Typically they are multi-ply structures encrusted with waxes cutin which protect plant from dehydration pathogen attack. These characteristics may also reduce chemical enzymatic deconstruction wall for sugar analysis conversion to biofuels. We assessed saccharide composition outer epiderm...

Recently, heme protein cavity mutants have been engineered in which the proximal coordinating amino acid has been replaced by a smaller, noncoordinating residue leaving a cavity that can be filled by exogenous axial ligands. This approach was pioneered by Barrick (Biochemistry 1994, 33, 6546-6554) with H93G sperm whale myoglobin where the coordinating histidine is replaced by glycine and the pr...

In search of specific and highly selective sugar clusters for cell receptors, such as membrane lectins, various disaccharides were coupled to small peptide cores through an amide bond. In a first step, the reducing disaccharides, i.e. lactose and three different dimannoses, were converted into glycosyl-pyroglutamyl-beta-alanine derivatives. The free carboxylic group of these conjugates was then...

Lycii Fructus was used as natural products with therapeutic properties for a long time. Betaine is a natural amino acid and one of the major constituents of Lycii Fructus. It is reported that this fruit plays a role in reducing blood levels of homocysteine, a toxic byproduct of the amino acid metabolism. This study was used to establish infra based on oriental medicine through the analysis of c...

tert-Butyldimethylsilyl (TBDMS) and tert-butyldiphenylsilyl (TBDPS) are alcohol protecting groups widely employed in organic synthesis in view of their compatibility with a wide range of conditions. Their regioselective installation on polyols generally requires lengthy reactions and the use of high boiling solvents. In the first part of this paper we demonstrate that regioselective silylation ...

Endemic and epidemic shigellosis, an acute invasive disease of the lower intestines, afflicts millions of people worldwide with an estimated one million fatalities per annum at a low infectious dose. Our approach to vaccine development against Shigella is based on the hypothesis that serum IgG antibodies to the O-specific polysaccharide (O-SP) domains of the LPS of these organisms confer protec...