title: Hydrazinolysis of heparin and other glycosaminoglycans.
abstract: Heparin, carboxy-group-reduced heparin, several sulphated monosaccharides and disaccharides formed from heparin, and a tetrasaccharide prepared from chondroitin sulphate were treated at 100 degrees C with hydrazine containing 1% hydrazine sulphate for periods sufficient to cause complete N-deacetylation of the N-acetylhexosamine residues. Under these hydrazinolysis conditions both the N-sulphate and the O-sulphate substituents on these compounds were completely stable. However, the uronic acid residues were converted into their hydrazide derivatives at rates that depended on the uronic acid structures. Unsubstituted L-iduronic acid residues reacted much more slowly than did unsubstituted D-glucuronic acid or 2-O-sulphated L-iduronic acid residues. The chemical modification of the carboxy groups resulted in a low rate of C-5 epimerization of the uronic acid residues. The hydrazinolysis reaction also caused a partial depolymerization of heparin but not of carboxy-group-reduced heparin. Treatment of the hydrazinolysis products with HNO2 at either pH 4 or pH 1.5 or with HIO3 converted the uronic acid hydrazides back into uronic acid residues. The use of the hydrazinolysis reaction in studies of the structures of uronic acid-containing polymers and the implications of the uronic acid hydrazide formation are discussed.
mesh_terms: D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002621:Chemistry; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D004590:Electrophoresis, Paper; D006025:Glycosaminoglycans; D006493:Heparin; D006834:Hydrazines; D007536:Isomerism; D007700:Kinetics; D008956:Models, Chemical; D014574:Uronic Acids
chemical_list: D006025:Glycosaminoglycans; D006834:Hydrazines; D014574:Uronic Acids; C029424:hydrazine; D006493:Heparin