2-O-methyl-D-glucuronic acid, a new hexuronic acid of biological origin

Acid hydrolysis of the extracellular polysaccharide of Porphyridium cruentum (a unicellular red alga) produced a mixture of aldobiuronic acids and free hexuronic acids. Fractionation of this mixture on an ion-exchange column yielded a hexuronic acid characterized as the title compound. Its identity was confirmed by chromatographic comparisons with the authentic compound, by reduction to the corresponding methylated aldose, by resistance to controlled lead tetra-acetate oxidation and by chemical-ionization mass spectrometry. Complete spectra have been deposited as Supplementary Publication SUP50062 (7 pages) with the British Library (Lending Division), Boston Spa, Wetherby, W. Yorkshire LS23 7BQ, U.K., from whom copies may be obtained under the terms given in Biochem. J. (1976) 153, 5.