The problems with animal sourced heparin became clear in 2007-8 during the heparin contamination crisis.  Our laboratory has undertaken the production of a bioengineered heparin that might one day replace animal heparin as a therapeutic anticoagulant.  Progress is reported on the chemoenzymatic synthesis of bioengineered heparin.  The current process prepares heparosan by E. coli fermentation, chemically converts it to N-sulfoheparosan and then treats it with C5-epimerase/2-O-, 6-O- and 3-O-sulfotransferases. New methods for the mass spectral structural analyses of heparin are also being developed that rely on LC-MS and MS/MS.  These methods should confirm that the resulting bioengineered heparin is sufficiently similar to animal heparin to permit its classification as a generic.

Progress in heparin synthesis and new methods for analysis

245th National Meeting (2013)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.