Complete structural analysis of globoseries glycolipids by two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance

Combined two-dimensional proton nuclear magnetic resonance allowed the determination of complete oligosaccharide structures of glycolipids belonging to the globo series, without any other analytical methods. Although a chemical modification by peracetylation was required for the above purpose, the derivatization permitted facile assignment of the pyranose ring proton resonances of the oligosaccharide moiety. Two-dimensional chemical-shift-correlated spectroscopy of the acetylated glycolipid enabled us to elucidate the glycosidic positions from the chemical shifts of the protons at the substituted sites. The monosaccharide species were also identified from the characteristic splitting patterns of the methine protons on individual pyranose rings. The sequence of the monosaccharides was inferred from the interresidue connectivity across glycosidic linkages shown by two-dimensional nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy, which also gave intraresidue interaction on the pyranose rings. The linkage sites of long oligosaccharide chains having more than five monosaccharides, such as globopentaosylceramide, were analyzed by two-dimensional J-relayed coherence transfer, which yielded 1,3 interactions along with 1,2 interactions.