Solution conformation of carbohydrates: A view by using NMR assisted by modeling

Abstract

Structural elucidation of complex carbohydrates in solution is not a trivial task. From the NMR view point, the limited chemical shift dispersion of sugar NMR spectra demands the combination of a variety of NMR techniques as well as the employment of molecular modeling methods. Herein, a general protocol for assignment of resonances and determination of inter-proton distances within the saccharides by homonuclear and heteronuclear experiments (i.e., 1H and 13C) is described. In addition, several computational tools and procedures for getting a final ensemble of geometries that represent the structure in solution are presented.