Applications of controlled inversion strategies in carbohydrate synthesis

Abstract

Carbohydrates play critical roles in mediating many biological processes, such as cell growth, migration, cell-cell adhesion, fertilization, signal transduction and immune response. The increasing demands for the study of these molecules greatly facilitate the development of carbohydrate synthesis. Inversion strategies via sulfonyl groups, selective reductions, etc. have been used to synthesize corresponding inverted configurations. This review focuses on the mechanisms of these inversion methods and their applications in constructing amino sugars, rare sugars and β-configurations in glycosylations.