Patent ID: 7879766

Claim:
A protected sugar chain compound or a salt thereof, which is represented by the formula (I) below: wherein R 1 and R 2 are the same or different and each is a linear sugar chain with 3 to 10 sugar residues, or a branched sugar chain with 4 to 10 sugar residues, which has at a terminus thereof a protective sugar residue, and R 1 and R 2 comprise two or more sugar residues and one protective sugar residue, wherein the sugar residues within R 1 and R 2 are capable of being cleaved by the same exoglycosidases, S 1 is any sugar residue, S A and S B are the same or different sugar residues, L is a bond or a linear sugar chain with 1 to 5 sugar residues, X is (i) absent, or (ii) represents a hydroxyl-protecting group or amino acid residue bound to any hydroxyl group in a sugar residue of L that has a reducing terminus, if L is a sugar chain, or any hydroxyl group in the sugar residue S 1 , if L is a bond, or (iii) represents a structure wherein an amino group, or an amino-protecting group bound to the amino group, is substituted for any hydroxyl group in a sugar residue of L that has a reducing terminus, if L is a sugar chain, or any hydroxyl group in the sugar residue S 1 , if L is a bond, and the sugar residue S A and the protective sugar residue within R 1 are cleaved by different exoglycosidases, and the sugar residue S B and the protective sugar residue within R 2 are cleaved by different exoglycosidases.