Glycan arrays have been established as the premier technical platform for assessing the specificity of carbohydrate binding proteins, an important step in functional glycomics research. Access to large libraries of well-characterized oligosaccharides remains a major bottleneck of glycan array research, and this is particularly true for glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), a class of linear sulfated polysaccharides which are present on most animal cells. Solid-supported synthesis is a potentially powerful tool for the accelerated synthesis of relevant GAG libraries with variations in glycan sequence and sulfation pattern. We have evaluated a series of iduronic acid and idose donors, including a couple of novel n-pentenyl orthoester donors in the sequential assembly of heparan sulfate precursors from monosaccharide building blocks in solution and on a polystyrene resin. The systematic study of donor and acceptor performance up to the trisaccharide stage in solution and on the solid support have resulted in a general strategy for the solid-phase assembly of this important class of glycans.

Novel fluorinated ligands for gold nanoparticle labelling have been designed and synthesised. Several types of gold nanoparticles have been prepared in the presence of these fluorinated ligands alone, or in combination with non-fluorinated ligands. Their colloidal stability in water and other solvents was tested and the magnetic resonance properties of the so-obtained nanoparticles were also assessed in detail. H andF-NMR spectra were evaluated and MRI phantoms of the most promising nanoparticles were successfully measured in F-MRI. The MRI signal to noise ratio was related to the fluorine concentration and compared with ICP-MS data to correlate the real concentration of fluorine grafted onto the nanoparticles with the actually active fluorine in MRI.

The structure of d/l sugar thiolate conjugates used in the preparation of Au(i)–thiolate polymers determines their chiroptical properties.