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6-O-Acetylated derivatives of D-hexopyranosides are valuable intermediates in synthetic carbohydrate chemistry. We have developed a new simple procedure for selective acetylation of the primary hydroxyl group in methyl D-hexopyranosides consisting in treatment with a mixture of acetic anhydride and acetic acid at 50°C. As a result, corresponding 6-acetates were formed in 40–50% yield.

The carbohydrate specificity of antibodies obtained by immunizing laboratory animals with immunogens prepared from the Aspergillus fumigatus cell wall was analyzed using the library of biotinylated synthetic oligosaccharides. It has been shown that the main part of antipolysaccharide antibodies recognizes galactomannan in the studied immunogens with preference to its fragments containing more than two β-(1→5)-linked galactofuranosyl units. The data obtained can form the basis for the development of enzyme immunoassay for the detection of this dangerous fungal pathogen.

A conjugate of a synthetic hexasaccharide fragment of the Streptococcus pneumoniae type 14 capsular polysaccharide with bovine serum albumin (BSA) has been prepared. The antigenic activity and specificity of this conjugate are comparable with those of natural antigens of S. pneumoniae type 14. The data suggest that the resulting synthetic conjugate can be used as a coating antigen in an experimental test system (based on enzyme immunoassay) for evaluating the antigenic activity and specificity of synthetic oligosaccharide ligands and for testing specimens of natural capsular polysaccharides and immune sera.