Intracellular Delivery of Hydrophilic Glycans Using Superchaotropic Clusters.

The intracellular delivery of glycans is a significant challenge. Glycan delivery is typically achieved by per-acetylation necessitating the use of the cytotoxic carrier solvent DMSO, or complex nanoscale delivery devices, to transit across the cell membrane. Here we deploy superchaotropic boron clusters to unlock solvent-free intracellular delivery of azido-glycans, as well as trehalose. The cluster B12Br12 2- delivered glycans into suspension and adherent cells, enabling successful metabolic oligosaccharide labelling and bioconjugation of glycoproteins, cell surface glycans, and also glycosylated-RNA. This approach offers a practical and operationally simple solution to the challenge of glycan intracellular delivery and removes the cytotoxic impact of solvents.