Periodate oxidation oligosaccharides

Treatment of periodate-oxidized oligosaccharides with bromine, to form the corresponding polycarboxylic acids, followed by hydrolysis and identification of the resulting acids of low molecular weight has also been used as a tool for structural studies. ... 

Trifluoroacetic acid is volatile, and thus readily removed. This acid was used by Albersheim and coworkers for the hydrolysis of plant cell-walls,39 and has since been employed for cell walls,40-43 plant mucilages,44 blood-group oligosaccharides,45 peptidogalactoman-nans,46 heparin,47 and disaccharides in blood and urine.48,49 It has also been suggested as an alternative to 6 M hydrochloric acid in the determination of amino sugars,50 and for the hydrolysis of polyalcohols produced by periodate oxidation of polysaccharides.503 Lee... 

Oligosaccharides terminated by 3-hexenetetrols include /SdGIcNAc-(1 - 6)R (45) for which the structure was established by hydroxylation and periodate oxidation. For the other compounds containing a /SdGIc-... 

In a critical study of the periodate oxidation of raffinose and related oligosaccharides, Courtois and Wickstrom showed78 that 1 mole of raffinose reduces 5 moles of periodate, with the formation of 2 moles of formic acid plus a hexaldehyde. Conversion of the aldehyde to the hexa-carboxylic acid, followed by hydrolysis, gave the expected amounts of glyoxylic acid, glyceric acid, hydroxypyruvic acid, and glycolaldehyde (by decarboxylation of hydroxypyruvic acid). 

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