Uronic acids acid hydrolysis

Two further points of interest with regard to the specificity of /3-glu-curonidase are raised by recent reports that leech hyaluronidase is a poly-/ -glucuronidase,211 and that hydrolysis of certain mucopolysaccharides yielded some L-iduronic acid212 oligosaccharides containing this uronic acid resisted hydrolysis by /3-glucuronidase.209... 

The polyuronides are polysaccharides that yield uronic acid on hydrolysis. The most important of these are the pectins. Pectins are found in most plants, particularly fruits. They are extracted in commercial quantities and used to make jellies and to alter the consistencies of foodstuffs. Citrus pectin is mainly a partially methylated polygalacturonic acid, where the alpha—1,4-galacturonic acid units are present. Other pectins are arabans (polyarabinose) and galactans (polygalactose). 

The floss silk from Chorisia speciosa furnished a polysaccharide with a main chain of (1 -> 4) linked P-Xylp substituted at 0-2 by 5 % of uronic acid. The xylan structure also was interposed with a-Rhap units in small amounts. The defatted seeds furnished on aqueous extraction a major fraction, ((9-acetyl, 10 % and protein, 45 %) wich was hydrolysed and analysed by p.c. and GLC, showing Rha (20 %), Ara (16 %), Gal (64 %) and also uronic acids (45 %). Partial hydrolysis gave rise to a polysaccharide free of arabinose, with 46 % of uronic acids. Methylation analysis (GLC -MS) indicated a chain of (1 4) - linked Gal/ (42 % of 2,3,6-Me3-Gal). 

Neutral sugars were quantified by trifluoroacetic acid hydrolysis (3) and gas chormatography of alditol acetates (4). Uronic acids were determined by Blumenkrantz method... 

De Ruiter, G. A., Schols, H. A., Voragen, A. G. J., and Rombouts, F. M., Carbohydrate analysis of water-soluble uronic acid-containing polysaccharides with high-performance anion-exchange chromatography using methanolysis combined with TFA hydrolysis is superior to four other methods, Anal. Biochem., 207, 176, 1992. 

The identification of L-iduronic acid as the major glycuronic acid constituent of heparin proved to be a much slower process than the identification of the amino sugar residue. Although this compound was detected in acid hydrolyzates of heparin116117 and heparin oligosaccharides,118 its yield was usually poor, because of the drastic conditions used for the acid hydrolysis (which are known to lead to extensive destruction of uronic acid).119120 Also, L-iduronic acid escaped detection as L-idose in the hydrolyzates of carboxyl-reduced heparin, probably because L-idose is readily converted into 1,6-anhydro-L-idose under the usual hydrolytic conditions. 

Examination of early -n.m.r. spectra of heparin and of chemically modified heparins121 prompted a reinvestigation of N,0-desulfated, carboxyl-reduced heparin, leading to the isolation of substantial amounts of L-iditol pentaacetate.121,122 In addition, improved conditions for the acid hydrolysis of heparin and carboxyl-reduced heparin gave increased recoveries of L-iduronic acid and 1,6-anhydro-L-idose, respectively.123 These findings confirmed the L-enantiomeric designation of the iduronic acid, and established that it is the main uronic acid in heparin. 

Both positional linkages (uronic acid to hexosamine and hexosamine to uronic acid) were established as being (1 — 4) by structural analysis of the previously mentioned (see Section IV), crystalline disaccharides containing D-glucuronic acid, isolated from an acid hydrolyzate of carboxyl-reduced heparin.128-129 Further evidence was obtained from the structure of the D-glucuronic acid-containing counterpart of disaccharides 6 and 8, obtained as minor products from pig-mucosal heparin following nitrous acid deamination,1110 136-138 and acid hydrolysis followed by N-acetylation,130 respectively. 

Although the glycosidic bonds of uronic acid residues are usually more resistant to acid hydrolysis than those of neutral polysaccharides,218 these linkages in heparin are more readily cleavable then those between the hexosamine and the uronic acid residues. Disaccharides obtained by exhaustive hydrolysis of heparin with 0.5 MHC1 at 80° contained hexu-... 

Dermatan sulfate, also termed chondroitin sulfate B, a related glycosaminoglycan constituent of connective tissue, was known to be composed of galactosamine and a uronic acid, originally believed to be glucuronic acid but then claimed to be iduronic acid based largely on color reactions and paper chromatography. However, the d or L-enantiomer status of the latter monosaccharide was not clear. Jeanloz and Stoffyn unequivocally characterized the monosaccharide as L-iduronic acid by consecutive desulfation, reduction, and hydrolysis of the polysaccharide, followed by isolation of the crystalline 2,3,4-tri-0-acetyl-l,6-anhydro-/ -L-idopyranose, which was shown to be identical to an authentic specimen synthesized from 1,2-0-isopropylidene-/ -L-idofuranose.34... 

The synthesis of L-ribofuranose derivatives from 16a has been carried out by Walker and Hogenkamp (35). The procedure involves oxidation of the hydroxymethyl group of 16a with dimethyl sulfoxide N,N dicyclohexylcarbodiimide and acid hydrolysis of the protecting group to give L-riburonic acid, which was converted into methyl (methyl a,/ -ribofurano-sid)uronates (26). Reduction of 26 with sodium bis(2-methoxyethoxy)alu-minum hydride gave the chromatographically separable anomers of methyl L-ribofuranoside (27). 

Honda and coworkers used 4 M hydrochloric acid for 6 h at 100° for the hydrolysis of nondialyzable glycoconjugates when determining amino monosaccharides, but preferred 2 M CF3CO2H for 6 h at 100° when determining the neutral monosaccharides and uronic acids, as these compounds are subject to more-severe degradation by 4 M hydrochloric acid. They obtained complete hydrolysis (with >90% recovery of monosaccharides added prior to hydrolysis) by using these two sets of hydrolytic conditions. 

The determination of the structure of a plant gum involves the establishment of its homogeneity, its equivalent weight, and rotation and its uronic acid and pentosan content by the well-known methods. The nature of the constituent sugars and the uronic acid are then determined, after hydrolysis of the gums, by ciystallization or by conversion into characteristic crystalline derivatives. As an example the hexose mannose may be identified as the free sugar or in the form of its anilide, methyl glycoside or phenylhydrazone. Autohydrolysis of the acid... 

Many authors have commented upon the problems associated with the hydrolytic step, which has been considered to be the main source of loss in carbohydrate analysis.19 The fact that, in determining uronic acids, differing results were obtained, depending on whether hydrolysis or methanolysis was employed, led others20 to conclude that... 

Nitric acid is less commonly used for hydrolysis, but, in combination with urea, has been recommended for polysaccharides containing uronic acid residues28 and it has been used in a study of apple pectin.29... 

For accurate results, correction factors must be established for the decomposition of each monosaccharide under the conditions of hydrolysis used. These corrections are of special importance when reliable values for a particular monosaccharide, present in only small proportion, are desired.24,33,34,83,92 96 When polysaccharides containing uronic acids are hydrolyzed, a further ambiguity is introduced, in that only partial cleavage of the glycosiduronic acid linkages may occur. 

With the aldaric acids, condensation occurs on both ends of the molecule, yielding products having two benzimidazole rings separated by a polyhydroxyalkylidene group, as in 97. These products are well adapted for the characterization of uronic acids and their polymers114-116 and of the hydrolysis products of nucleic acids.117... 

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