Glycosylated Self-Assembled Monolayers for Arrays and Surface Analysis

Abstract

Over the past few decades, carbohydrates (glycans) have received growing attention for their many roles in biological systems, including pathogenesis, receptor-ligand interactions, and cell signaling. To unravel the biology of this important category of biomolecules, a host of new tools have been developed for glycomics investigation. At the forefront is the carbohydrate microarray, developed to immobilize functional glycans on a solid substrate to rapidly screen a variety of potential binding partners (carbohydrates, proteins, nucleic acids, cells, and viruses). The essential role played by surface modification on glycan microarray performance requires new methods to rigorously characterize glycan surface chemistries. Due to their highly reproducible nature and well-studied properties, self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on gold are powerful models for presenting glycans on a solid substrate, engineering biomimetic microenvironments and exploring the bioactivity of immobilized carbohydrates via surface plasmon resonance (SPR). However, it can be challenging to prepare high quality glycosylated SAMs (glyco-SAMs) that retain their biological function following surface immobilization. Herein, a selection of versatile methods for the preparation of glyco-SAMs using natural and chemically modified glycans is described. This chapter will highlight the following three immobilization techniques: (1) direct self assembly using thiolated glycosides onto gold, (2) tethering aminated glycosides onto -amine-reactive SAMs, and (3) conjugating natural glycan onto divinyl sulfone-activated SAMs.