Researchers from the group of Prof. Rubén Martín at ICIQ have developed a new way to precisely “edit” sugar molecules, opening new possibilities for designing improved carbohydrate-based medicines. Published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), the study describes a strategy that uses visible light and nickel catalysis to selectively modify sugars at positions that were previously difficult to access.
Carbohydrates are essential molecules involved in countless biological processes and are the basis of many medicines used to treat diseases including infections, diabetes and cancer. However, their complex structures make them notoriously difficult to modify in a precise and controlled way, limiting the development of new sugar-based therapeutics.
To overcome this challenge, ICIQ researchers developed a photoinduced catalytic strategy that acts almost like a molecular GPS. By combining visible light with a nickel catalyst, the method selectively introduces new carbon-containing fragments into cyclic acetal sugars at a specific position, providing direct access to previously inaccessible molecular architectures.
A key advantage of the methodology is its exceptional selectivity. Sugar molecules contain many similar chemical bonds, making it difficult to modify only one site without affecting the rest of the molecule. The new approach overcomes this challenge under mild reaction conditions while maintaining excellent control over the structure of the final products.
“For us, this is like having a brand new “molecular scalpel” to design more stable and effective sugar-based drugs, such as antibiotics or anticancer agents,” says Shuai Zhang, first author of the study and PhD student in Prof. Rubén Martín’s group.
Compared with conventional methods, which often require lengthy multistep syntheses, the new protocol offers a more direct route to complex sugar derivatives containing carbon-carbon bonds. These compounds are often more stable than conventional sugar analogues and could provide new opportunities for the development of carbohydrate-based therapeutics, including antibiotics and anticancer drugs.
Reference publication
Zhang, S.; Ordóñez, J.; Blanco, C. O.; Talavera, L.; Kasdekar, N.; Gómez-Bengoa, E.; Crich, D.; Martín, R.
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2026
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.6c08408
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