Yes / Novel strategies for the efficient synthesis of unsymmetrical glycosyl disulfides are reported. Glycosyl disulfides are increasingly important as glycomimetics and molecular probes in glycobiology. Sialosyl disulfides are synthesised directly from the chlorosialoside Neu5Ac2Cl, proceeding via a thiol-disulfide exchange reaction between the sialosyl thiolate and symmetrical disulfides. This methodology was adapted and found to be successfully applicable to the synthesis of unsymmetrical glucosyl disulfides under mild conditions.

Yes / The disulfide bond plays an important role in the formation and stabilisation of higher order structures of peptides and proteins, while in recent years interest in this functional group has been extended to carbohydrate chemistry. Rarely found in nature, glycosyl disulfides have attracted significant attention as glycomimetics, with wide biological applications including lectin binding, as key components of dynamic libraries to study carbohydrate structures, the study of metabolic and enzymatic studies, and even as potential drug molecules. This interest has been accompanied and fuelled by the continuous development of new methods to construct the disulfide bond at the anomeric centre. Glycosyl disulfides have also been exploited as versatile intermediates in carbohydrate synthesis, particularly as glycosyl donors. This review focuses on the importance of the disulfide bond in glycobiology and in chemistry, evaluating the different methods available to synthesise glycosyl disulfides. Furthermore, we review the role of glycosyl disulfides as intermediates and/or glycosyl donors for the synthesis of neoglycoproteins and oligosaccharides, before finally considering examples of how this important class of carbohydrates have made an impact in biological and therapeutic contexts. / The authors thank the Institute of Cancer Therapeutics (University of Bradford) Doctoral Training Centre for financial support.

Bisacetylenic cabamates/carbonates are most useful compounds in finger mark development, for the synthesis of polymeric gels and other material applications. Organochalogen derivatives are the organic compounds containing chalcogen (S, Se) atoms. They have been used as chiral ligands for enatioselective catalysis, glycosyl donors and in the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds etc. This thesis describes our efforts towards synthesis of bisacetylenic cabamates/carbonates and development new synthetic strategies using rongalite (Na+HOCH2SO2-) and benzyltriethyl ammonium tetrathiomolybate [BnEt3N]2MoS4 as a reducing agents led to obtain various organochalcogen derivatives. We developed a new reagent, hexa-2,4-diyne-1,6-bisoxycarbonyl chloride [Hbc Cl] for the synthesis of symmetrical diacetylenic biscarbamates/biscarbonates and further studied the solid state structures using X-ray crystallography. Later we described a stereoselective method for the hydrothiolation of buta-1,3-diynes derivatives using diaryldichalcogenides in the presence of rongalite and K2CO3. The buta-1,3-diynes underwent stereoselective addition reaction with in situ generated chalocgenate anion from diaryl dichalcogenides which afforded the corresponding (Z)-chalcogenynes. The reactivity of buta-1,3-diynes with diaryl dichalcogenides was further studied at higher temperature led to a mixture of mono chalcogenated and bischalcogenated products. Then an efficient method was developed for the synthesis of enatiopure β-amino sulfides/selenides via ring opening of sulfamidates using diarylchalcogenides with rongalite as reducing agent. Further we synthesized chalcogeno derivatives of sugars from glycosyl halides and diaryl dichalcogenides in the presence rongalite. In addition, the synthesis of mixed glycosyl dichalcogenides has been demonstrated using [BnEt3N]2MoS4 as sulfur transfer agent as well as reducing agent. Finally the reactivity of [BnEt3N]2MoS4 was studied in detail with various isatioc anhydrides which led to the formation of S-benzyl 2-aminobenzothioate derivatives. Further we synthesized S-alkyl/aryl 2-aminobenzothioate derivatives via ring opening of isatoic anhydrides and diaryl/dialkyl chalcogenides by mean of [BnEt3N]2MoS4 as a reducing agent. We extended this method in a one-pot, tandem fashion with various alkyl halides. In this thesis, details of all of the above studies have been described.