<p>In order to understand biological processes, to treat and diagnose diseases, find appropriate vaccines and to prevent the outbreak of epidemics, it is essential to obtain more knowledge about carbohydrate structures. This thesis deals with structure and conformation of carbohydrates, analysed by NMR spectroscopy and MD simulations.In the first two papers, the structures of O-antigen polysaccharides (PS) from two different <i>E. coli</i> bacteria were determined using NMR spectroscopy. The O-antigenic PS from <i>E. coli</i> O152 (paper I) consists of branched pentasaccharide repeating units, built up of three different carbohydrate residues and a phosphodiester, whilst the repeating unit of the O-antigen from <i>E. coli</i> O176 (paper II) is built up of a linear tetrasaccharide consisting of two different monosaccharides.</p><p>In papers III and IV, the conformational analysis of different disaccharides is described. Conformational analysis was performed using NMR spectroscopy and MD simulations (paper IV). In paper III four different glucobiosides were studied using coupling constants and Karplus-type relationships. By use of specific <sup>13</sup>C isotopically labelled derivatives, additional coupling constants were obtained and the number of possible torsion angles was reduced by half. In paper IV, we examine the conformations of two disaccharides that are part of an epitope of malignant cells. From NOE and T-ROE experiments, short proton-proton distances around the glycosidic linkage were estimated. Furthermore, interpretation of the extracted coupling constants using Kaplus relationships gave the values of the torsion angles. As in paper III, isotopically labelled compounds were synthesised in order to enhance the sensitivity of the analysis. Finally, MD simulations were performed and the results were compared with results from NMR data.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA/oai:DiVA.org:su-7283 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Olsson, Ulrika |
| Publisher | Stockholm University, Department of Organic Chemistry, Stockholm : Institutionen för organisk kemi |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary, text |
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