Triazoles in the Carbohydrate World: Unlocking Multifunctional Glycohybrids

Abstract

Triazoles have emerged as versatile linkers in carbohydrate chemistry, enabling the construction of stable and multifunctional glycohybrids. This review explores the use of triazoles in carbohydrate chemistry, focusing on how they can be used to create versatile compounds with applications in both medicine and materials science. A variety of glyco-triazole hybrids have been synthesized using efficient and sustainable click chemistry methods. These methods allow for the high-yield joining of sugars to other molecules under biocompatible conditions. This review highlights the diverse biological activities of these new compounds, including their use as antimicrobial, antifungal, and anticancer agents. A cationic chitosan derivative with triazole and quaternary ammonium groups showed strong antifungal and antioxidant properties. Other examples include carbohydrate-derived triazoles that inhibit glycogen phosphorylase, a feasible treatment for type 2 diabetes, and piperazine triazolyl sugar conjugates that show potent anticancer activity against HeLa cells. Beyond their medicinal uses, the review also covers the application of glyco-triazole hybrids in materials science and sensing. This review emphasises that while significant progress has been made, future work should focus on designing more complex structures, using greener synthesis methods, and addressing challenges like bioavailability and stability to move these promising compounds from the laboratory to real-world applications.