Patent ID: 7883873

Claim:
A sugar chain synthesizer, which comprises: a pump for supplying a buffer solution; a plurality of vessels containing a respective plurality of sugar nucleotide solutions; a plurality of vessels containing a respective plurality of glycosyltransferases corresponding to the plurality of sugar nucleotide solutions, wherein said glycosyltransferases are not immobilized; a single reactor containing a primer that is a water-soluble polymer, for successively introducing said plurality of corresponding sugar nucleotide solutions and glycosyltransferases; a sampling means for sampling a solution contained in said reactor and introducing it into a flow channel through which said buffer solution flows; a first ultrafilter for subjecting the solution introduced by said sampling means to ultrafiltration; a second ultrafilter for subjecting a first effluent from said first ultrafilter to ultrafiltration; a first selector valve, which is provided between said first and second ultrafilters and comprises a flow channel for returning a second effluent from said first ultrafilter to said reactor and a flow channel for supplying the first effluent from said first ultrafilter to said second ultrafilter; and a second selector valve, which is provided downstream of said second ultrafilter and comprises a flow channel for delivering a first effluent from said second ultrafilter to a drain and a flow channel for supplying a second effluent from said second ultrafilter to one of said vessels containing respective glycosyltransferases, wherein the operation from introducing the respective sugar nucleotide solutions into the reactor to delivering the second effluent from said second ultrafilter to the vessel containing the glycosyltransferase is repeatedly carried out for successive ones of said corresponding plurality of sugar nucleotide solutions and glycosyltransferases within the single reactor.