Purification of subunit B of Shiga toxin using a synthetic trisaccharide-based affinity matrix.

The blood group P1 antigenic trisaccharide (3), which is the receptor-binding ligand of Shiga-like toxins, is synthesized in a spacer-equipped form (32) from 2-(trimethylsilyl)ethyl glucoside 5 and the 1-thiogalactoside building blocks 10 and 22 in a stereocontrolled, stepwise fashion. Covalent attachment of 32 to hydrazine group-containing agarose gel by reductive amination provided the P1 trisaccharide-containing affinity sorbent which was used for preparative scale isolation of subunit B of Shiga toxin.