Professor Carmen Galan - University of Bristol

Professor Carmen Galan 

FROM SYNTHESIS TO APPLICATIONS: SYNTHETIC GLYCO-TOOLS FOR EXPLORING AND EXPLOITING THE GLYCOME.

The stereoselective synthesis of glycosides remains one of the biggest challenges in carbohydrate chemistry.1 The chemical synthesis of complex carbohydrates generally involves the coupling of a fully protected glycosyl donor bearing a leaving group at its anomeric centre, with a suitably protected glycosyl acceptor (R-OH). In many instances, these reactions lead to a mixture of two stereoisomers, which makes the process inneficient. Over the last few years, our group has endeavoured to develop expedient methods to address this important synthetic challenge.1 

In this lecture, I will discuss the use of transition metal catalysis for the stereoselective synthesis of deoxyglycosides, including the α,α-stereoselective synthesis of trehalose analogues.2 Moreover, I will also disclose the development of imidazolium-based MS labels and their applications to expedite oligosaccharide synthesis and enzyme discovery in glycobiology.3  Examples of glycan-based probes and their application in the  development of a rapid bacteria screening strategy will also be discussed.4

Acknowledgements: Thanks to all my past and present team members galanresearch.com for all their hard work and contributions to the work presented here.

References:

1. a) C. S. Bennett; M. C. Galan, Chem. Rev., 2018, 118, 7931. 
2. a) R. Jeanneret, C. Walz, M. van Meerbeek, S. Coppock, and M. C. Galan* Org. Lett. 2022, 24, 34, 6304. b) M. Mahanti, C. M. Saunders, N. Walker, N. Fey* and M. C. Galan*  J. Org. Chem. 2025, 90, 21, 6937–6945; c) J.L. Johns, M. Mahanti, M.C.Galan, Chem Sci Chem. Sci., 2026, Advance Article. DOI:10.1039/D5SC07018J 
3. a) Y.Y. Zhang, M. Ghirardello, R. Williams, A. Silva-Diaz, J. Rojo, J. Ramos-Soriano, J. Voglmeir, M.C. Galan*. “Microfluidics-based Ionic Catch and Release Oligosaccharide Syn-thesis (ICROS-microflow) to JACS Au (2024), 4, 11, 4328-4328. b) K. Hollingsworth, M. Fascione,  S. Flitsch, M.C. Galan, T. Feizi, M. I. Gibson*, Y. Liu*, W. B. Turnbull*, B. Linclau* et al. Nature Commun. 2024 15, Article number: 7925. c) Y. Y. Zhang, Z.H. Hu, S. Y.  Zhang , L. Liu, M. C. Galan,* J. Voglmeir,* M. Ghirardello*Anal. Chem., 2025, 97, 24, 12587–12594.
4. a) J. B. Vendeville, J. Spencer , M. C. Galan, et. al., ACS Biomater. Sci. Eng., 2022, 8, 242–25; b) J. Samphire, Y. Takebayashi, J. Spencer, M. C. Galan*, et al. Nano Select 2022, 3, 662–672. c) G. Walke, C. Santi, C. Haydon, P. Joshi, Y. Takebayashi, S. Rama, J. Dort, S. Hotha*, J. Spencer*, M.C. Galan* JACS Au 2024, 4, 11, 4537–4543.