(Invited) Glycofullerenes for Biological Applications

The carbohydrate-protein interaction is a key issue in a variety of biological processes. Actually, this molecular recognition is usually one of the selective steps triggering different biological processes affording biological functions. This interaction is characterized by a high selectivity, strong dependence on some specific metal cations and a remarkable low affinity.

The way in which mother Nature solves this low affinity is by means of the so-called multivalent interactions, which involves using many copies of receptor (lectines) and a multivalent presentation of the ligand (sugar). Thus, the development of the required tools for a better understanding of the biological processes involving carbohydrates are based in the design and preparation of multivalent carbohydrates systems.

We have recently shown that fullerenes are appealing suitable spherical molecular scaffolds for the construction of globular structures decorated at will on the periphery in the search for new biologically active supermolecules.¹ In this communication, the most recent advances in the synthesis of giant globular structures on different carbon nanostructures as well as their efficiency in inhibiting the Ebola virus infection will be discussed.

References:

1. a) J.-F. Nierengarten, J. Iehl, V. Oerthel, M. Holler, B. M. Illescas, A. Muñoz, N. Martín, J. Rojo, M. Sánchez-Navarro, S. Cecioni, S. Vidal, K. Buffet, M. Durka, S. P. Vincent, Chem. Commun. 2010, 46, 3860 – 3862; b) M. Sánchez-Navarro, A. Muñoz, B. M. Illescas, J. Rojo, N. Martín, Chem. Eur. J. 2011, 17, 766; c) J. Luczkowiak, A. Muñoz,  M. Sánchez-Navarro, R. Ribeiro-Viana, A. Ginieis, B. M. Illescas, N. Martín, R. Delgado, J. Rojo, Biomacromolecules 2013, 14, 431−437.