Structural studies on a sulfated polysaccharide from an Arthrobacter sp. by NMR spectroscopy and methylation analysis

Structural characterization of a sulfated polysaccharide peptidoglycan complex (SP-PG) from an Arthrobacter sp. was performed by NMR spectroscopy and methylation analysis. In order to simplify the analyses, the desulfated SP-PG was used. NMR spectroscopy revealed the presence of a trisaccharide repeating unit and a disaccharide repeating unit. The trisaccharide unit was composed of two galactofuranosides and one glucopyranoside, and the disaccharide unit was of two galactopyranosides, as shown below. The methylation analysis showed that the polysaccharide consists mainly of a 4-linked galactopyranoside, a 6-linked galactopyranoside, a 6-linked galactofuranoside, a 2,6-linked galactofuranoside, a terminal galactopyranoside and a terminal glucopyranoside. These findings confirmed the structure indicated by the NMR spectroscopy. The repeating units determined in this study are novel.