Efficient synthesis of the antigenic phosphoglycans of the Leishmania parasite.

Antigenic phosphoglycan repeats of the Leishmania parasite can be assembled in a flexible and efficient manner without involving any glycosidation steps, and the chain can be extended either towards the non-reducing (6'-OH) or reducing (1-OH) end suitable for synthesis of lipophosphoglycan, proteophosphoglycan and analogues.