How the arming participating moieties can broaden the scope of chemoselective oligosaccharide synthesis by allowing the inverse armed-disarmed approach.

A new method for stereocontrolled glycosylation and chemoselective oligosaccharide synthesis has been developed. It has been determined that complete 1,2-trans selectivity can be achieved with the use of a 2-O-picolyl moiety, a novel neighboring group that is capable of efficient participation via a six-membered intermediate. The application of the picolyl concept to glycosidations of thioimidoyl, thioglycosyl, and trichloroacetimidoyl glycosyl donors is demonstrated. The picolyl moiety also retains the glycosyl donor in the armed state, as opposed to conventional acyl participating moieties. We name this new approach the "inverse armed-disarmed" strategy, because it allows for the chemoselective introduction of a 1,2-trans glycosidic linkage prior to other linkages. In the context of the oligosaccharide synthesis, the strategy provides trans-trans and trans-cis patterned oligosaccharides as opposed to classic Fraser-Reid's armed-disarmed approach leading to cis-trans and cis-cis linkages.