Klebsiella type 28 capsular polysaccharide, degradation

Uronic acid degradation of the fully methylated Klebsiella type 47 capsular polysaccharide120 results in a partially methylated polysaccharide having a disaccharide repeating-unit (see Section IV,2, p. 218), in which the hydroxyl groups at C-3 in the L-rhamnose residues are free. Oxidation with ruthenium tetraoxide consequently gave the product 82, which, on treatment with base, followed by... 

Further examples of modified Smith degradation, in which the polyalcohol is methylated prior to hydrolysis under mild conditions, uronic acid degradation, and /3-elimination preceded by oxidation have been reported in connection with structural studies on the Klebsiella type 28 (Ref. 182), 57 (Ref. 183), 59 (Ref. 142), and 81 (Ref. 184) capsular polysaccharides. 

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