Synthesis of Microbial Sialic Acids and Related Chemical Probes for the Study of Campylobacter jejuni Glycobiology

Abstract

The thesis combines synthetic carbohydrate chemistry (syntheses of microbial sialic acids and biosynthetic precursors with fluorescent labelling) and genetic studies of C. jejuni. The synthetic endeavours cover a wide range of chemical reactions including a range of carbohydrate specific manipulations alongside complex hydroxylation and oxidation studies and mosher ester analysis. The novelty of the thesis comes from the combination of these approaches, and the final application of the chemical tools within the bacterium.