Pneumococcal vaccine, polysaccharides structure

NMR can also be used to elucidate the structural features of a repeating unit in a polysaccharide and to investigate the conformation and dynamics of polysaccharides.21 A unique polysaccharide structure results in a characteristic proton NMR spectrum. Therefore, NMR is a powerful tool for identifying polysaccharide structures. This remarkable specificity has led to the development of a routine NMR-based identity assay, recently reported by Abeygunawardana et al. for quality control testing of bacterial polysaccharide to be used in formulating a polyvalent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine.22... 

Structures of Some of the Capsular Polysaccharides of Streptococcus pneumoniae Contained in the Current, Pneumococcal Vaccine... 

Not all of the pneumococcal capsular polysaccharides have had their structures completely determined. Because of their antigenicity and use in producing vaccines, there has been great interest in this field of carbohydrate chemistry. We will consider only the structures of six types of 5. pneumoniae capsular polysaccharides that have had their structures definitively determined. 

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