Trifluoromethanesulfonic acid: a useful reagent for the solvolytic cleavage of glycosidic linkages in structural analysis of bacterial polysaccharides

摘要

A coomon chemical approach in the structural analysis of polysaccharides is the selective cleavage of glycosidic linkages to obtain oligosaccharide fragments. These usually show better-resolved nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra than the parent polymer and are readily amenable to mass spectrometry (MS) investigations. They are also useful in immunochemical studies and the synthesis of neoglycoconjugates for elaboration of diagnostic agents and experimental vaccines. Many bacterial polysaccharides contain complex monosaccharides often featuring amide linkages (e.g. N-acyl derivatives of amino sugars and amides of uronic acids). Determination of the structure of these unusual monosaccharides demands their non-destructive isolation, so that they can be analysed directly by chromatography, NMR spectroscopy, MS and specific optical rotation.