Polymerization of Anhydro Sugars and Related Compounds

On a commercial scale, only polysaccharides from natural sources such as land plants and seaweeds are used. Medical applications, however, stimulate research on synthetic polysaccharides, which could be used as well defined models for studying the biological functions of different polysaccharides. 

Polysaccharides arise from monomeric sugars by elimination of water, i.e., either by polycondensation of sugars or ring-opening polymerization of anhydro sugars  

Mechanistic and stereoelectronic aspects of anhydro sugar formation are discussed in Ref. 7). 

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