Yu Biao Photo by Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, UCAS

Chinanews.com, Hangzhou, August 12 (Huang Lingyi) On August 12, the reporter learned from Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study (HIAS), UCAS that the International Carbohydrate Organization recently announced the winner of Roy L Whistler International Award in Carbohydrate Chemistry for 2022, the highest international award in the field of carbohydrate chemistry. It has been awarded to Prof. Yu Biao, a research fellow of Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (SIOC), CAS, and executive dean of the School of Chemistry and Materials Science of HIAS, UCAS. He became the first Chinese scholar to win the award.

In 1984, the International Carbohydrate Organization established the award to recognize scientists who have made and will continue to make significant contribution to the field of carbohydrate chemistry and biochemistry.

Yu Biao has long focused on the chemical synthesis and biological activity of carbohydrates. The glycosidation method invented by his lab with PTFAI as the donor is a general method for the synthesis of complex glycans and glycoconjugates, which has been applied in 90 laboratories around the world and is known as one of the three milestones in catalytic glycosylation. The Gold(I)-Catalyzed Glycosylation with Glycosyl o-Alkynylbenzoates as Donors has realized the construction of special glycoside bonds that cannot be achieved by other methods. It is called Yu Glycosidation.

It is learned that his lab has also recently completed the synthesis of a class of bacterial lipopolysaccharide O-antigen 128 glycans, the longest linear glycan ever chemically synthesized, and the total synthesis of a range of complex natural glycoconjugates, including the total synthesis of landomycin A in 63 steps and the total synthesis of periploside A with special orthoester glycosidic bonds in 79 steps.

Executive Editor: Zhang Yanling