Atomic polysaccharides

Rief, M., Oeslerhelt, F., Heymann, B. and Gaub, H.E., Single molecule force spectroscopy on polysaccharides by atomic force microscopy. Science, 275(5304), 1295-1297 (1997). 

FIGURE 1.9 (a) Amino acids build proteins by connecting the n-carboxyl C atom of one amino acid to the n-amino N atom of the next amino acid in line, (b) Polysaccharides are built by combining the C-1 of one sugar to the C-4 O of the next sugar in the polymer, (c) Nucleic acids are polymers of nucleotides linked by bonds between the 3 -OH of the ribose ring of one nucleotide to the 5 -P04 of its neighboring nucleotide. All three of these polymerization processes involve bond formations accompanied by the elimination of water (dehydration synthesis reactions). 

Cartesian and cylindrical polar atomic coordinates of the structural repeating unit of 31 polysaccharide helices are provided in Tables A1 to A31. Errors, if any, in the original publications have been corrected. The coordinates of hydrogen atoms are given in a majority of structures. If missing, they are not available in the references cited in Table I. Each table caption contains the structure number and polymer name assigned in Table I. Refer to Table II for its chemical repeating unit. Cartesian (x, y, z) and cylindrical (r, , z) coordinates are related by x r cost ), y = r sin<(> and z is the same in both systems. 

The pyruvic acid may also be linked to vicinal positions. When linked to 0-3 and 0-4 of a D-galactopyranosyl residue (40), the dioxolane ring becomes cw-fused. In the limited number of known examples, the absolute configuration at the acetalic carbon atom is (S), as in 40. There are some examples of tra -fused dioxolane rings, and these are more sensitive to hydrolysis with acid than the others. Thus, pyruvic acid is acetalically linked to 0-3 and 0-4 of an a-L-rhamnopyranosyl residue in the Klebsiella type 72 capsular polysaccharide, to 0-2 and 0-3 of an a-D-galactopyranosyl residue in the Streptococcus pneumoniae type 4 capsular polysaccharide, and to 0-2 and 0-3 of a S-D-glucopyranosyluronic acid residue in the Klebsiella K1 capsular polysaccharide. " In the extracellular polysaccharide from... 

Klebsiella K12, pyruvic acid is acetalically linked to 0-5 and 0-6 of a y -D-galactofuranosyl residue. Pyruvic acid is further acetalically linked to 0-4 and 0-5 of a D-mannitol residue in an unusual type of teichoic acid from Brevibacterium iodinum The absolute configuration at the acetalic carbon atom is (S) in the 5. pneumoniae type 4 polysaccharide, but it has not yet been determined for the other polymers. 

Monosaccharides, the molecular units of the saccharides, are carbohydrate molecules containing between three and six carbon atoms. Oligosaccharides contain small chains of two to ten monosaccharide units, and polysaccharides contain long-chain polymers of monosaccharides. 

Polymers are examples of organic compounds. However, the main difference between polymers and other organic compounds is the size of the polymer molecules. The molecular mass of most organic compounds is only a few hundred atomic mass units (for reference, atomic hydrogen has a mass of one atomic mass unit). The molecular masses of polymeric molecules range from thousands to millions of atomic mass units. Synthetic polymers include plastics and synthetic fibers, such as nylon and polyesters. Naturally occurring polymers include proteins, nucleic acids, polysaccharides, and rubber. The large size of a polymer molecule is attained by the repeated attachment of smaller molecules called monomers. 

One way to overcome the problem of chirality existing only at the metal-matrix interface is to encase the metal particle inside the chiral matrix. In that case, all of the metal surface atoms should be close to a chiral center however, this approach has some problems too. For example, access to the metal surface may be inhibited by the encasing matrix. In spite of this, several attempts have produced moderately successful catalysts by creating metal—polymer catalysts. Pd has been deposited on poly-(5)-leucine (Scheme 3.4) and Pd and Pt colloids have been encased in a polysaccharide to produce catalysts that enanti-oselectively hydrogenated prochiral C=C and C=N bonds (Scheme 3.5).7... 

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