Conversion of l-rhamnose to n-acetyl-l-fucosamine

Abstract

The following work describes an attempted synthesis of N-Acetyl-L-fucosamine from L-Rhamnose. Many bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus, rely on a capsular polysaccharide which contains N-acetyl-L-fucosamine to protect themselves from destruction by the host's immune system. Therefore, an efficient synthesis of this rare sugar is required for further experiments in designing small molecule glycomimetics which may inhibit the capsular polysaccharide formation.