Heparan sulfate is a polysaccharide that plays essential physiological functions in the animal kingdom. Heparin, a highly sulfated form of heparan sulfate, is a widely prescribed anticoagulant drug worldwide. The heparan sulfate and heparin isolated from natural sources are highly heterogeneous mixtures differing in their polysaccharide chain lengths and sulfation patterns. The access to struct...

During the last quarter of the century almost no other aspect of organic synthesis has received as much attention as the preparation of enantiomerically pure compounds. The synthesis of optically active materials is an important task and represents a challenge to synthetic organic chemists. Increasing interest in the understanding of biological processes and the general recognition that chirali...