[The structure of O-specific polysaccharide of Proteus mirabilis 027 containing amino acids and phosphoethanolamine]

The following structure of the repeating unit of the Proteus mirabilis O27 O-specific polysaccharide was established: (formula; see text) where (formula; see text) is N-glucopyranuronoyl-L-lysine, (formula; see text) is N-galactopyranuronoyl-L-alanine. The polysaccharide was parially solvolysed with anhydrous HF and the resulting dephosphorylated tri- and tetrasaccharide with N-acetylglucosamine at the reducing end were studied by means of 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy and (for methylated derivative of trisaccharide) mass-spectrometry. Smith degradation of the polysaccharide afforded linear polymer, and its structure was investigated by 13C NMR spectroscopy. The position of the ethanolamine phosphate group was determined by means of the analysis of the phosphorylation effects in the 13C NMR spectra of the linear and branched polysaccharides.