Glycosylated asterisks are among the most potent low valency inducers of Concanavalin A aggregation.

A new class of sulfurated, semi-rigid, radial and low-valent glycosylated asterisk ligands with potential dual function as ligand and probe has some of the highest inhibition potencies of Con A-induced hemagglutination, by using a cross-linking mechanism of Con A which amplifies the enhancement to near nanomolar concentrations with the alpha-d-mannose asterisk.