A straightforward synthetic access to symmetrical glycosyl disulfides and biological evaluation thereof.

Symmetrical glycosyl disulfides can be prepared within a few hours from per-O-acetylated precursors via a sequential approach entailing short reactions and no purification of any intermediate. The final thiolate-to-disulfide oxidation step is noticeably accelerated by low amounts of phenyl diselenide under air. Applicability of the strategy to non-saccharidic symmetrical alkyl disulfides has also been examined. A preliminary assay of the cytotoxic activity of symmetrical 1,1'-disulfides was performed on two human tumor cell lines, and a noteworthy activity was recorded for a range of these synthetic compounds.