Many universities are introducing courses in Carbohydrate Chemistry and Medicinal Chemistry within their undergraduate, Mchem, and postgraduate courses. This is a result of research within carbohydrate science that has highlighted the importance of these biomolecules.

Carbohydrates are associated with a plethora of important biological processes and have been implicated in the onset and progress of many lethal diseases. They have attracted a great deal of recent research interest from both synthetic chemists and glycobiologists, and have been identified as novel targets of therapeutic importance. This book, aimed at synthetic and medicinal chemists, introduces both undergraduates and research students to the chemistry and biology of carbohydrates. The text investigates methods for synthesizing carbohydrates in a systematic and logical manner and provides real examples from the literature to exemplify the procedures introduced. Both traditional and modern methods for synthesizing carbohydrates, including enzymatic and solid- phase techniques, are discussed.