N-acetyl-5-N,4-O-oxazolidinone-protected sialyl sulfoxide: an α-selective sialyl donor with Tf2O/(Tol)2SO in dichloromethane.

Sweet as sugar: Sialyl sulfoxide protected by N-acetyl-5-N,4-O-oxazolidinone was readily prepared, and its coupling to various sugar acceptors was investigated. When the reaction was promoted by Tf(2)O/(Tol)(2)SO, efficient and highly α-selective sialylation yielded α(2,6), α(2,3), and α(2,4) glycosidic linkages between sialic acid and glucose/glacotose.