Automatic structure determination of regular polysaccharides based solely on NMR spectroscopy
Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 29, 2026

Atomic Scale Structural Studies of Macromolecular Assemblies by Solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Published on: September 17, 2017
Magnus Lundborg1, Carolina Fontana, Göran Widmalm
1Department of Organic Chemistry, Arrhenius Laboratory, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
Abstract:
The structural analysis of polysaccharides requires that the sugar components and their absolute configurations are determined. We here show that this can be performed based on NMR spectroscopy by utilizing butanolysis with (+)- and (-)-2-butanol that gives the corresponding 2-butyl glycosides with characteristic (1)H and (13)C NMR chemical shifts. The subsequent computer-assisted structural determination by CASPER can then be based solely on NMR data in a fully automatic way as shown and implemented herein. The method is additionally advantageous in that reference data only have to be prepared once and from a user's point of view only the unknown sample has to be derivatized for use in CASPER.
Related Concept Videos
¹³C NMR: Distortionless Enhancement by Polarization Transfer (DEPT)
NMR and Mass Spectroscopy of Carboxylic Acids
While α protons of carboxylic acids absorb at 2–2.5 ppm, β protons absorb further upfield.
Carboxylic acids are easily identified by dissolving them in deuterium oxide, which results in a rapid exchange of the acidic protons with deuterium. This leads to the disappearance of the acidic...
Mass Spectrum: Interpretation
Spectroscopy of Carboxylic Acid Derivatives
In the...
Biosynthesis of Polysaccharides
NMR Spectroscopy of Aromatic Compounds

