Glycosylation via Transition-Metal Catalysis: Challenges and Opportunities

Development of efficient, mild, and easily operable stereoselective glycosylations is of critical importance to access sufficient amounts of pure and structurally well-defined carbohydrates for studies of their biological functions. Such studies will facilitate our understanding of the role of complex oligosaccharides and glycoconjugates in biological processes as well as the development of carbohydrate-based effective therapeutic agents. This review highlights recent advances in the transition metal catalyzed stereoselective glycosylations for the synthesis of a variety of structurally complex and biologically significant O-, N-, C-, and S-glycosides.