Unravelling Glycobiology by NMR Spectroscopy

Abstract

Generally speaking, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy seems the most powerful technique in current use for structural analysis of biomolecules. Four Nobel prizes have been awarded so far due to discoveries related to NMR: 1952 (Physics) to Felix Bloch and Edward Mills Purcell for explanations of the physical properties of nuclei under magnetization; 1991 (Chemistry) to Richard Ernest for the development of the principles for the multidimensionality in NMR spectroscopy; 2002 (Chemistry) to Kurt Wüthrich for applying NMR in structural determination of biomolecules, mainly proteins; and 2003 (Medicine) for Paul Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield to the discoveries concerning the use of magnetic resonance imaging in medical diagnostics. The significant boom of NMR spectroscopy in structural biology however dates from the beginning of 80´s, mainly due to the implementation of two-dimensional techniques associated with advances in instrumentation and in vivo or in vitro methods for making suitable samples for NMR analysis.