Complex glycans participate in many essential life processes. Studies of glycan-mediated biological events have traditionally employed structurally defined fragments of the more elaborate natural molecules. However, it is now clear that this approach may sometimes be insufficient and this realization has prompted a desire to synthesize glycans of similar size and complexity to those found in nature. We highlight here recent work describing the synthesis of such molecules.

中文翻译：

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上下文和复杂性：合成糖生物学的下一件大事。

复杂的聚糖参与许多重要的生命过程。传统上，对聚糖介导的生物事件的研究采用结构更为复杂的天然分子的片段。然而，现在清楚的是，该方法有时可能不足，并且这种认识促使人们希望合成与自然界中发现的聚糖相似大小和复杂性的聚糖。我们在此重点介绍描述此类分子合成的最新工作。