Highly efficient syntheses of hyaluronic acid oligosaccharides

Highly efficient syntheses of hyaluronic acid oligosaccharides have been accomplished through the pre-activation based iterative one-pot strategy. A series of oligosaccharides ranging from di- to hexasaccharides were rapidly assembled using only near stoichiometric amounts of the building blocks without aglycon adjustment or purifications of intermediate oligosaccharides. Deprotection and oxidation protocols were developed for protective group removal and oxidation-state adjustment. The availability of such structurally well defined synthetic hyaluronic acid oligosaccharides will greatly facilitate the establishment of detailed structure-function relationships.