Hexoses, methylation analyses

Phosphorus, fatty acids, carbohydrates, glycerol, and amino acids were analyzed by the method described in our previous paper [8] and references cited therein. SDS-PAGE [8], TLC [9], HPLC [9], determination of phos-phomonoester [8], reducing sugar analysis [13], methylation analysis [14], and hexose analysis [15] were performed as described in the respective literature. Two dimensional TLC was performed on silica-gel plate (Merck Silicagel 60 F254 No. 5715) using the solvent systems, chloroform-methanol-acetic acid (65/10/1, v/v/v) for the first development and chloroform-methanol-25% ammonia solution (65/10/1) for the second. 

G.l.c.-m.s. of partially methylated alditol acetates is now widely used in conjunction with the methylation analysis of polysaccharides and other materials containing carbohydrates. For materials having only one sugar of any one class (such as pentose, hexose, or 6-deoxyhexose), the identification of the components by m.s. is unambiguous. When several sugars of each class are present, the mass-spectral evidence, together with the relative retention times in g.l.c.° ° of pertinent derivatives will, in most cases, lead to an unequivocal identification of each component. The method has several advantages. It is fast and accurate, and only small amounts of material are needed. Artefacts and unresolved components are readily detected, The method could be used in different modifications. 

The cell walls of Streptococcus pneumoniae contain a teichoic acid (C polysaccharide) composed of 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-galactose, 2-acetamido-4-amino-2,4,6-trideoxy-D-hexose, ribitol phosphate, choline phosphate, and D-glucose. From the results of periodate oxidation and methylation analysis, together with an examination of the n.m.r. spectra, the structure (1) has been proposed. It is speculated that the C-3 hydroxy-group of the chain terminal diaminotrideoxy-D-hexose unit is glycosylated with isomaltose. 

The O-specific polysaccharide of the lipopolysaccharide from Yersinia pseudotuberculosis type IB contains residues of o-mannose, L-fucose, 3,6-dideoxy-D-r/6o-hexose (paratose), and 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucose. The repeating unit (12) of the polysaccharide was assigned on the basis of methylation analysis,... 

P2j Z = 2 D = 1.17 R = 0.080 for 3,888 intensities. This is aconfigu-rational analysis of the macrolide antibiotic 23672RP from Streptomyces chryeus. All three sugar residues are pyranoid the conformation of the a-ketose is CX, with Q = 56 pm, 0 = 9° that of the / -D-mycinose (6-deoxy-2,3-di-0-methyl-D-allose) is 4Clt with Q = 59 pm, 0 = 6° and that of the / -L-mycarose (2,6-dideoxy-3-C-methyl-L-riho-hexose) is 1C4, with Q = 53 pm, 0= 177°. The O-5-C-l-O-l-C glycosidic torsion-angles are —71, —87, —83°. The atomic coordinates reported in the paper refer to the opposite enantiomer. 

Depolymerization of the permethylated carbohydrate is achieved by hydrolysis with acid. Under these conditions, the amino sugar residues are N-deacetylated, and the aminohexosidic linkages become resistant to hydrolysis. Stellner and coworkers29 showed that, when the acid degradation is conducted in 95% acetic acid, the amino sugar residues are also liberated, and can be analyzed by the methylation technique.29 Therefore, acetolysis followed by acid hydrolysis is now commonly used, as it allows the analysis both of hexose and hexosamine residues. 

Because, on treatment with the anthrone reagents,224,225 hexoses and 5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-furaldehyde give solutions having identical spectral characteristics, dehydration is indicated to be the important reaction in this analysis. This conclusion is further supported by the reported isolation228 of 10-furfurylidene-9,10-dihydro-9-oxoanthra-cene (121) after reaction of 2-furaldehyde with anthrone, and by the fact that 121 has an absorption maximum of 600 nm, a value close to that used for pentose estimations. In similar studies,227 9,10-dihydro-10-(5-methylfurfurylidene)-9-oxoanthracene (122) was reported to have been isolated after the reaction of either L-rhamnose or 5-methyl-... 

The method was used in studies of a fungal heterogalactan.150 The polysaccharide was subjected to successive tritylation, methylation, detritylation, p-toluenesulfonylation, reaction with sodium iodide, and, finally, reaction with sodium p-toluenesulfinate. The product was then treated with sodium methylsulfinyl carbanion in dimethyl sulfoxide, the product remethylated, and the polysaccharide material recovered by gel chromatography. The polymer was hydrolyzed, and the sugars in the hydrolyzate were analyzed, as the alditol acetates, by g.l.c.-m.s.1 The analysis revealed that —60% of the hexose residues that were unsubstituted at C-6 had been eliminated. As the product was still polymeric, it was concluded that these residues had constituted a part of side chains linked to a main chain of (1 — 6)-linked D-galactose residues. 

Comparison of the nuclear magnetic-resonance spectrum of methyl 4-0-acetylmycaroside with the spectra of some model compounds, and the failure to obtain an isopropylidene derivative of methyl a-L-mycaroside, led Foster and coworkers to propose for mycarose the ij-xylo configuration. However, the more detailed analysis made of the nuclear magnetic-resonance spectrum of di-O-acetylmycarose by Hofheinz and coworkers as well as the stereospecific syntheses of mycarose by Korte and coworkers and by Woodward and coworkers, leave little doubt that mycarose is 2,6-dideoxy-S-C-methyl-L-nho-hexose (61) and that cladinose is its 3-methyl ether (62). 

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