Programmable One-Pot Synthesis of Heparin Pentasaccharide Fondaparinux

The clinically approved Fondaparinux (Arixtra) has been used for the treatment of deep vein thrombosis and acute pulmonary embolism since 2002 and is considered to be better than the low-molecular weight heparin in terms of anticoagulation response, duration of action, and biosafety. However, the synthetic methods previously developed for its manufacture are relatively complicated, thus restricting its extensive use. We report here a potentially scalable and programmable one-pot synthesis of Fondaparinux using the [1,2,2] strategy and designed thioglycosides with well-defined reactivity as building blocks.