Abstract: Heparin and heparin sulfate have been widely used as anticoagulant drugs in clinical application, and may play an important role in anticancer and antivirus. Traditional chemical synthesis of heparin is costly and tedious, although this approache has successfully manufactured heparin. Synthesis of heparin and its derivatives from microorganism became a hot topic. This article summarizes the structure and function of heparin, the recent progress on the chemical and enzymatic synthesis of heparin/heparan sulfate, and the application prospect of heparosan.

Key words: heparosan, sulfating modification, heparan sulfate, heparin