Monosakkaridin

Monosakkaridin is a term used in chemical and natural products literature to describe a class of compounds in which a single monosaccharide unit serves as the central scaffold and is covalently bonded to a non-sugar aglycone through a glycosidic linkage. The concept emphasizes the monosaccharide origin of the molecule and encompasses a range of structures where the sugar remains part of the functional molecule after glycosylation.

Chemically, monosakkaridin compounds typically feature a pyranose or furanose ring as the core. The aglycone is attached to the sugar by an O-glycosidic bond, most often at the anomeric carbon, with configurations that can be either alpha or beta. Variants may include additional hydroxy, carbonyl, or alkyl substituents on the sugar or on the aglycone, influencing physicochemical properties and bioactivity.

Occurrence and biosynthesis are described in studies of plants and some microorganisms, where these compounds arise as natural products or metabolic intermediates. Biosynthesis generally involves glycosyltransferases that transfer activated sugar donors (such as UDP-sugars) to aglycone substrates, followed by tailoring steps that modify both the sugar and aglycone portions.

Properties include relatively high water solubility due to the sugar moiety, along with stability profiles that depend on the exact sugar–aglycone pair. They are subject to hydrolysis by glycosidases, releasing the aglycone and a free monosaccharide. In biological contexts, monosakkaridins can play roles in defense, signaling, or storage, and they are of interest for pharmacology and as scaffolds in synthetic chemistry.

Research on monosakkaridin focuses on structure–activity relationships, natural occurrence, and methods for synthetic access, including glycosylation strategies and enzyme-catalyzed approaches.