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The authors of this work have optimized a novel synthetic route towards glucose‐based PdII‐bis(NHC) complexes in only 4 steps with total yields up to 73 %. The synthesis route encompasses an Appel reaction towards 6‐iodo‐glucopyranosides, followed by acyl‐protection, then quaternization with imidazoles and finally the conversion of these acyl‐protected glucosyl imidazolium salts to their respective palladium(II)bis(NHC) complexes, via an intermediary silver(I) complex. Overall, 11 acyl‐protected glucosyl imidazolium iodides as NHC‐precursors and 15 complexes have been synthesized. The structure‐activity relationships of different functionalizations in these complexes and their reactivity in a model Suzuki‐Miyaura between bromobenzene and 4‐tolueneboronic acid reaction has been investigated, and a highly reactive complex leading to >99 % yield at 0.005 mol% catalytic loading has been found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: A widely used test to establish if a person has T-cells that react against an infection or against a cancer is the enzyme-linked ImmunoSpot (ELISPOT assay). The person's T-cells are mixed with short lengths of amino acids called peptides that span the protein targets (antigens) step-wise in an overlapping manner, in order to stimulate a measurable response in the form of countable spots on the membrane of the ELISPOT plate, which indicate cytokine secretion by individual T cells. Whilst research has shown that responsive peptides for certain individuals can be predicted by computer programs, we show that using large peptide pools representing several antigens reveal most effectively the majority of the T cell reactivity against viruses. Such an approach is also likely to be most effective in cancers. Synthetic peptides derived from antigen sequences are essential reagents for the detection of CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs), in assays such as ELISPOT/ImmunoSpot®. Indeed, the combination of peptides and ImmunoSpot® has been widely used for immune monitoring in numerous vaccine trials. Target antigens in pathogens or cancers may be large in size and multiple in number, often seemingly necessitating in silico peptide epitope predictions using algorithms and programs for certain HLA alleles to narrow down the numbers of required peptides. In this commentary, we discuss our data in the context of immune responses to viral and cancer antigens, concluding that systematic high-throughput immune monitoring of CD8+ T cells will provide more reliable insights on the host's response to cancer than the reliance on select CD8+ T cell epitopes, no matter whether these are in silico predicted or even if they had been empirically established. We show the feasibility of large scale, high-throughput systematic CD8+ T cell epitope testing towards this goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]