Sweet Pharmaka

The enzymatic synthesis of pharmaceutically effective sugar-based natural substances, the so called oligosaccharides and glycosydic (sugared) natural substances, was goal of the project of the TU Braunschweig. This method may play a crucial role in the treatment of cancer, since the efficiency through glycolisation of many substances - like e. g. with the chemotherapeutic drug Taxol, which is based on yew extract - can be essentially elevated through an improved bioavailability and thus, as a result, the necessary daily dose can be drastically reduced and simultaneously the accompanying side-effects.

Sweet Pharmaka
Saccharose serves the building of oligosaccharides, glycopeptides and glycosydic natural substances.
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The developed enzymatic process allows the synthesis of oligosaccharides as well as of glycopeptides through two enzymatic transformations at most from the regrowing raw material sucrose - better known as refined sugar - and other sugars. Until now, heavy metals (mercury and silver) and added chlorinated hydrocarbons were used for the chemical synthesis of these substances. They disperse in organic solvents at very low temperatures (-40 °C), and need the use of protecting group chemistry with a high greenhouse relevance. Approximately 500 kg of combustible waste result from each kilogramm of product. On the contrary, the developed enzymatic process reduces the number of synthesis steps from 10 to 2, eliminates 95 % of the waste and facilitates a synthesis also at room temperature in aquaeous solutions.

Projektziel:
Sweet Pharmaka
Projektträger:
Technische Universität Braunschweig Technische Chemie, Abteilung fr Technologie und Kohlenhydrate Prof. Dr. Klaus Buchholz / Dr. J. Seibel Langer Kamp 5 38106 Braunschweig
Telefon:
+49-531-3917260
Fax:
+49-531-3917263
URL:
www.itc.tu-bs.de
E-Mail:
k.buchholz@tu-bs.de; h.seibel@tu-bs.de