This paper deals with a comb-shaped branched polysaccharide, which has a linear backbone and pendant monosaccharide units regularly substituted on each sugar unit in the main chain.',' Naturally occurring polysaccharides often have branched structures, and their physical and biological functions are influenced by the nature of the b r a n~h e s .~ It has also been noted that branched oligosaccharides on glycoproteins and glycolipids in cell surface membranes are key participants in cell-cell recognition during de~elopment.~ In these respects, welldefined comb-shaped polysaccharides are expected to serve as model substances for physicochemical and biological studies and as cell-specific biomedical materials using carbohydrates as a recognition marker.5,6Synthesis of comb-shaped branched polysaccharides has been attempted by two different routes via ring-opening polymerization of anhydro sugar derivatives: (1) polymerizatioin of anhydro disaccharide derivatives followed by deprotection',' and (2) synthesis of regiospecifically protected linear polysaccharides followed by stereoselective glycosidation and d e p r o t e c t i~n .~,~ The former route is favorable for the synthesis of polysaccharides that are substituted completely and stereospecifically with monosaccharide moieties. However, anhydro disaccharide derivatives seem less reactive in polymerization than the corresponding anhydro monosaccharide deriva-ti~es,','*~and hence highly reactive disaccharide anhydrides are required to lead to high molecular weight polysaccharides.In this paper, we gave attention to the high polymerization reactivity of dideoxygenated anhydro ring structures'O and to the role of a P-galactopyranose unit as a recognition marker. According to Scheme I, these two moieties were coupled to give 1,6-anhydro-3-0-(2,3,4,6-tetra-0-benzyl-~-~-galactopyranosyl)-2,4-dideoxy-~-~-threo-hexopyranose (1). The ring-opening polymerization of 1 followed by deprotection of the resulting polymer (2) was carried out, and a well-defined comb-shaped polysaccharide, 2,4-dideoxy-3-0-(P-~-galactopyranosy1)-(1-+6)a-D-threo-hexopyranan (3) was obtained. The polymerization reactivity of 1 is discussed in comparison with those of analogous anhydrides and their parent compounds including 1,6-anhydro-2,4-di-O-benzyl-3-0-(2,3,4,6-tetra-~-benzy~-~-~-gaiactopyranosy~)-~-~-g~ucopyranose (41, 1,6-anhydro-3-O-benzyl-2,4-dideoxy-P-~threo-hexopyranose (5)," and 1,6-anhydro-2,3,4-tri-Obenzyl-s-D-glucopyranose (6). BnO ,OBn OBn OBn OBn OBn 4 5 6 0024-9297 I 9 0 12223-1884$02.50 I O
Results and Discussion
Synthesis of a Comb-Shaped Branched Polysaccharide, 2,4-Dideoxy-3-0-(&~-galactopyranosyl)-(1-.6)-a-~-thr~hexopyranan (3). Polymerization data of 1 are summarized in Table I. A relatively large amount of the initiator was required. The molecular weight of the disaccharide derivative was high (MW = 653), and hence the monomer concentration could not be made higher than those employed. The polymerization of 1 at -78 O C was more satisfactory than that at -60 "C in terms of pol...