Glyconanogels as a versatile platform for the multivalent presentation of carbohydrates: from monosaccharides to dendritic glycostructures

Abstract Carbohydrate multivalent interactions play a key role in nature as efficient recognition tools for controlling a plethora of physiological and pathological events. These interactions are weak but the presence of multiple copies of ligands and receptors on biological surfaces leads to a multivalent recognition with enhanced selectivity and exponentially increased affinity. Here we report a simple and straightforward methodology for multivalent presentation of both simple monosaccharide ligands and complex dendritic glycostructures using polymeric nanogels (NGs). The interaction between the glycoNGs and a model lectin has been analysed by DLS and UV-Vis agglutination assays, showing that the introduction of glycodendrons with 3 and 9 mannose residues into the NGs results in a strong enhancement of the multivalency.