Orthogonal photoswitching of heterobivalent azobenzene glycoclusters: the effect of glycoligand orientation in bacterial adhesion

• Leon M. Friedrich and
• Thisbe K. Lindhorst

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 736–748, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.57

• glycophotoswitches in their different isomeric states led to new insights into the role of ligand orientation in carbohydrate recognition. The experimental results were underpinned by molecular modeling. Keywords: azobenzene glycoconjugates; carbohydrate recognition; docking; FimH; orthogonal photoswitching

• conjugated to the 3- and the 6-position of a methyl mannoside scaffold (Figure 1, 1 (6βGlc3αMan)) [24]. Orthogonal photoswitching of the two glycoantennas is guaranteed by (i) ortho-fluorination of one azobenzene moiety and (ii) S-azobenzene versus O-azobenzene conjugation, resulting in significantly shifted

• to the O-azobenzene (AB) photoswitch. (Orthogonal) photoswitching alters the relative spatial orientation of the two sugar units. Glucose (Glc) moieties are colored in blue and mannose (Man) in green according to the symbol nomenclature for carbohydrates (SNFG) [29][30]. A: Wavelength-selective