Carbohydrates molecular receptors with

C. Ortiz Mellet, J. Defaye, and J. M. Garcia Fernandez, Multivalent cyclooligosaccharides Versatile carbohydrate clusters with dual role as molecular receptors and lectin ligands, Chem. Eur. J., 8 (2002) 1983-1990. 

It should be noted that carbohydrate recognition through formation of boronates has been remarkably successful. However, it involves covalent bonds and cannot be seen as biomimetic. For reviews, see James, T. D., Sandanayake, K. R. A. S. and Shinkai, S. (1996) Saccharide sensing with molecular receptors based on boronic acid, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. 35, 1911-1922 Smith, B. D. (1996) Liquid membrane transport using boronic acid carriers, Supramolecular Chemistry 7, 55-60. 

Taken together, these results suggest that molecular recognition of the dodecapeptide by antibodies differs from its recognition by concanavahn A, and that the immunological cross-reactivity observed in some studies does not reflect structural mimicry. That molecular recognition by concanavalin A of carbohydrates and peptides differs has also been shown in structural studies. Here, the functional molecular mimicry observed with respect to different receptors should not be assumed to imply structural mimicry—the inter-molecular interactions may differ in each case. 

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