ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Chem.
Sec. Organic Chemistry
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fchem.2025.1650302
This article is part of the Research TopicRecent Advances in Synthetic Organic Chemistry at the Biomedical Interface: Honoring Professor Iwao Ojima on the Occasion of his 80th BirthdayView all 19 articles
A Streamlined Synthetic Approach to the Truncated Linear Trisaccharide Fragment of QS-21
Provisionally accepted
- Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
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QS-21, a potent immunostimulatory saponin obtained from Quillaja Saponaria Molina, a soapbark tree native to Chile, has undergone extensive study for its broad application as a vaccine adjuvant against various infectious diseases and cancers. The structure of QS-21, which features a linear oligosaccharide moiety, provides a critical attachment site for both the labile acyl side chain and the distinctive sugar unit that defines each major saponin variant. Herein, we present an efficient synthetic approach to the truncated linear trisaccharide fragment of QS-21, circumventing the challenges associated with the synthesis of the rare sugar D-fucose. The synthesis of this linear trisaccharide enables streamlined access to a homogeneous QS-21.
Keywords: QS-21, Linear trisaccharide, Glycosylation, carbohydrate chemistry, vaccine adjuvant
Received: 19 Jun 2025; Accepted: 13 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hung, Lin, Tzeng and Dumalaog. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Shang-Cheng Hung, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
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