Significant Advances in Macromolecular Carbohydrate Chemistry

Recent noteworthy advances and trends in macromolecular carbohydrate chemistry include the following  

Numerous publications have been devoted to studies on the synthesis of a-D-glucans by strains of Streptococcus species and the relationship of these organisms to dental caries. 

The fact that hydroxy-groups at positions C-2, C-3, C-4, or C-6 in the D-glucose moiety of a-D-glucopyranosyl phosphate are not essential for its substrate specificity in the transglycosylation reaction with a-(l 4)-D-glucan phosphorylase in plant polysaccharides was probably an important observation. Recent discoveries on the distribution of side chains in plant polysaccharides 

The recent work on the cellulase enzymes of white-rot fungi also deserves mention. 

Advances in glycolipid chemistry include the isolation of new types of gangliosides from human erythrocyte membranes and the elucidation of information on their blood-group activities. The importance of polyisoprenol-sugar derivatives continues to attract much effort and the enzyme work on rat liver and yeast membranes are worth consideration. Another advance is the discovery that neuraminidases which are also able to hydrolyse the appropriate bond in the ganglioside Gmi do exist. This bond was thought to be resistant to enzymic attack due to steric hindrance. 

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The introduction to the Part II Report was revised extensively in the previous volume and that chapter, which covered in detail Scope and Coverage of the Report Organization, Nomenclature, and Use of the Report Significant Advances in Macromolecular Carbohydrate Chemistry and Conclusions and Readership , is classified as essential reading for any new reader of this Series of Part II Reports. 

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