Facile syntheses of d-mannose hexa- and nonasaccharides: the di- and trimer of the trisaccharide repeating unit of the cell-wall mannans of Epidermophyton floccosum, Trychophyton mentagrophytes, Microsporum canis and related species of Microsporum

A highly efficient strategy for the preparation of d-mannose hexa- and nonasaccharides, the dimer and trimer of the α-d-Manp-(1→6)-[α-d-Manp-(1→2)-]d-Manp trisaccharide repeating unit of the cell-wall mannans from the fungi Epidermophyton floccosum, Trychophyton mentagrophytes, Microsporum canis, M. cookei and M. racemosum, has been developed using 1,2,6-tri-O-acetyl-3,4-di-O-benzoyl-α-d-mannopyranose (6) as the key synthon.