This brief presents a valuable and concise overview of organocatalytic methodologies in carbohydrate chemistry. It includes glycosylation processes with de novo syntheses of carbohydrates and chain elongation of carbohydrates. The author, an academic of international distinction, goes on to make comparisons between traditional organic and metalorganic transformations.

Born in 1950, Rainer Mahrwald studied chemistry at MLU Halle and subsequently joined the "Manfred von Ardenne" Research Institute in Dresden, where he led the synthetics group. He gained his doctorate under G. Wagner in Leipzig in 1979, and went on to the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the Academy of Science in Berlin, where he remained until 1990. Following a stay at the Philipps-University in Marburg, Dr. Mahrwald qualified as a lecturer at the Humboldt University Berlin, where he is now a private lecturer.

Introduction.- Total synthesis of carbohydrates.- Organocatalyzed cascade reactions in carbohydrate chemistry.- Glycosylation reactions of carbohydrates.