Green Process in Glycotechnology

Oligo- and poly-saccharides are important macromolecules in living systems. They show their multifunctional characteristics in the construction of cell walls, energy storage, and various biological phenomena like cell recognition. The development of a new glycosylation reaction is demanded in order to supply a sufficient amount of oligo- and poly-saccharides for basic research. Enzymes have several remarkable catalytic properties compared with other types of catalyst in terms of their selectivity, high catalytic activity, lack of undesirable side-reactions, and ability to operate under mild conditions. This account presents an overview of recent advances in the glycosylation reactions for synthesis of oligo- and poly-saccharides catalyzed by glycosyl hydrolases. A new carbon cyclic system of "GlycoChemistry Cycles" has been proposed based on the renewable polysaccharide biomass.