title: Determination of average degree of polymerisation and distribution of oligosaccharides in a partially acid-hydrolysed homopolysaccharide: a comparison of four experimental methods applied to mannuronan.
abstract: The average degree of polymerisation (DP) and distribution of oligosaccharides in partially acid hydrolysed mannuronans were quantitatively evaluated by 1H NMR, electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography with UV detection (MEKC-UV), and high-pressure anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection (HPAEC-PAD). Our investigation shows that 1H NMR, MEKC-UV and, in particular, HPAEC-PAD can be used as quantitative tools to aid the investigation of polysaccharide structure, function and synthesis. For the latter two techniques, especially, this represents a significant new development as it enables calculation of the quantity of individual oligomers of nominal DP by direct analysis of a defined oligomer mixture. Appropriate statistical averages of number and weight distributions were also calculated and found to fit very well to predicted Kuhn distributions that assume random depolymerisation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Macromolecular Chemistry University of Trieste, 1-34127 Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: Cristiana
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Campa
authors.forename: Astrid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oust
authors.forename: Gudmund
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Skjåk-Braek
authors.forename: Berit Smestad
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Paulsen
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Paoletti
authors.forename: Bjørn E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Christensen
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ballance
mesh_terms: D000143:Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D001704:Biopolymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D002852:Chromatography, Ion Exchange; D020374:Chromatography, Micellar Electrokinetic Capillary; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D006868:Hydrolysis; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D012015:Reference Standards; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization
chemical_list: D000143:Acids; D001704:Biopolymers; D009844:Oligosaccharides