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Free keywords:
Polysaccharides, Chemical synthesis, Polycondensation, Ring-opening polymerization, Well-defined polymers
Abstract:
This chapter aims to give an overview of the different methods employed for the chemical synthesis of polysaccharides. Polymerization reactions, as well as total synthesis, are considered. Polycondensation and ring-opening polymerization (ROP) allows for the quick production of polysaccharides with high degree of polymerization; however, heterogeneous samples with a certain size distribution are always obtained. In contrast, solution and solid-phase total synthesis offers the possibility to access well-defined materials with specific lengths and monomer organization, but require significant synthetic effort. Recent advances in the field are presented, with particular focus on the most suitable targets for each synthetic approach.
