ABSTRACT
The tremendous biological importance of oligosaccharides and glycoconjugates r1,2] has been recognized for many years. Besides acting as a source of stored energy and a structural element of life,* the oligosaccharides and glycoconjugates playa very significant role in cell-cell and cell-pathogen interactions [5-19]. In order to understand their exact roles fully, it is necessary to obtain molecular tools in the form of well-defined fragments of those biopolymers [20,21]. It is possible to isolate them from natural sources, but it is a tedious and difficult process that often yields very small amounts of material [22]. The current understanding of the biochemistry of the other two major classes of biopolymers, proteins and nucleotides, was largely achieved by the ability to synthesize oligosaccharides efficiently and rapidly.
