 Glycoarrays on Gold Surfaces Peter Both, Robert ardzík, Martin Weissenborn, Anthony Green, Josef Voglmeir and Sabine Flitsch* School of Chemistry & Manchester Interdisciplinary Biocentre, The University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester M1 7ND, U.K. E-Mail: * sabine.flitsch@manchester.ac.uk Received: 16 th December 2011/Published: 11 th July 2012 Abstract Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on gold have become widely used as a platform for studying chemical and biochemical reactions, for studying biomolecular interactions and for the development of nanos- cale devices. We have used this platform to study the solid-supported synthesis of carbohydrates and glycopeptides using both chemical and enzymatic methods. An attractive feature of the technology is the opportunity for miniaturisation and in situ analysis using mass spectro- metry, SPR and fluorescence spectroscopy. Applications for the synth- esis of complex oligosaccharides and glycopeptides to generate gly- coarrays and their application in biology and medicine are discussed. Introduction The sequences of oligo- and polysaccharides in cells and tissues are not directly encoded in their genomes, but are determined by the expression and substrate specificity of a large set of ‘glycoenzymes’, which catalyse the formation or hydrolysis of glycosidic bonds (Figure 1). These enzymes are involved in the biosynthesis of glycan structures by controlling regio- and stereoselectivity of glycosylation, a process which is highly dynamic. The understanding of the activity and substrate specificity of these glycoenzymes is a key to determining and understanding the ‘glycome’, the set of carbohydrate structures in a biological system. 93 http://www.beilstein-institut.de/glycobioinf2011/Proceedings/Flitsch/Flitsch.pdf Cracking the Sugar Code by Navigating the Glycospace June 27 th – July 1 st , 2011, Potsdam, Germany