A novel sulfonamidoglycosylation of glycals.

[reaction: see text] The sulfonamidoglycosylation of benzylated glycals using a catalytic amount of triphenylphosphine hydrobromide proceeded in a highly stereoselective fashion to give the beta anomers with good to high yields. This process was demonstrated with d-galactal and d-glucal. Two of the new N-2-(deoxyglycosyl)sulfonamides were tested as inhibitors of tumor cell growth in vitro and showed antiproliferative properties in the micromolar range.