Chemical-Enzymatic Synthesis of Carbohydrates

This paper describes the use of three types of enzymes in carbohydrate synthesis. Aldolases are a useful class of catalysts for the synthesis of aza sugars and related compounds. Glycosyltransferases have been developed for the synthesis of oligosaccharides. The enzymatic oligosaccharide synthesis has been proven effective and practical when coupled with in situ regeneration of sugar nucleotides. A subtilisin variant prepared via site-directed mutagenesis is stable and active in dimethylformamide and is useful for regioselective acylation of sugars.