D-Allosamine is a rare sugar in Nature but its pyranoid form has been found α-linked in the core region of the lipopolysaccharide from the Gram-negative bacterium Porphyromonas gingivalis and in the chitanase inhibitor allosamidin, then β-linked and N-acetylated. In water solution the monosaccharide N-acetyl-D-allosamine (D-AllNAc) shows a significant presence of four tautomers arising from pyranoid and furanoid ring forms and anomeric configurations. The furanoid ring forms both showed 3JH1,H2 ≈ 4.85 Hz and to differentiate the anomeric configurations a series of chemical shift anisotropy/dipole–dipole cross-correlated relaxation NMR experiments was performed in which the α-anomeric form showed notable different relaxation rates for its components of the H1 doublet, thereby making it possible to elucidate the anomeric configuration of each of the furanoses. The conformational preferences of the different forms of D-AllNAc were investigated by 3JHH, 2JCH and 3JCH coupling constants from NMR experiments, molecular dynamics simulations and density functional theory calculations. The pyranose form resides in the 4C1 conformation and the furanose ring form has the majority of its conformers located on the South–East region of the pseudorotation wheel, with a small population in the Northern hemisphere. The tautomeric equilibrium was quite sensitive to changes in temperature, where the β-anomer of the pyranoid ring form decreased upon a temperature increase while the other forms increased

Carbohydrates, also known as glycans in biological systems, are omnipresent in nature where they as glycoconjugates occur as oligo- and polysaccharides linked to lipids and proteins. Their three-dimensional structure is defined by two or three torsion angles at each glycosidic linkage. In addition, transglycosidic hydrogen bonding between sugar residues may be important. Herein we investigate the presence of these inter-residue interactions by NMR spectroscopy in D2O/[D-6]DMSO (70:30) or D2O and by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with explicit water as solvent for disaccharides with structural elements alpha-d-Manp-(1 -> 2)-d-Manp, beta-d-GlcpNAc-(1 -> 2)-d-Manp, and alpha-d-Glcp-(1 -> 4)-beta-d-Glcp, all of which have been suggested to exhibit inter-residue hydrogen bonding. For the disaccharide beta-d-GlcpNAc-(1 -> 2)-beta-d-Manp-OMe, the large extent of O5 '...HO3 hydrogen bonding as seen from the MD simulation is implicitly supported by the H-1 NMR chemical shift and (3)J(HO3,H3) value of the hydroxy proton. In the case of alpha-d-Glcp-(1 -> 4)-beta-d-Glcp-OMe, the existence of a transglycosidic hydrogen bond O2 '...HO3 was proven by the presence of a cross-peak in H-1,C-13 HSQC-TOCSY experiments as a result of direct TOCSY transfer between HO3 of the reducing end residue and H2 ' (detected at C2 ') of the terminal residue. The occurrence of inter-residue hydrogen bonding, albeit transient, is judged important for the stabilization of three-dimensional structures, which may be essential in maintaining a conformational state for carbohydrate-protein interactions of glycans to take place in biologically important environments.

The conformation of saccharides in solution is challenging to characterize in the context of a single well-defined three-dimensional structure. Instead, they are better represented by an ensemble of conformations associated with their structural diversity and flexibility. In this study, we delineate the conformational heterogeneity of five trisaccharides via a combination of experimental and computational techniques. Experimental NMR measurements target conformationally sensitive parameters, including J couplings and effective distances around the glycosidic linkages, while the computational simulations apply the well-calibrated additive CHARMM carbohydrate force field in combination with efficient enhanced sampling molecular dynamics simulation methods. Analysis of conformational heterogeneity is performed based on sampling of discreet states as defined by dihedral angles, on root-mean-square differences of Cartesian coordinates and on the extent of volume sampled. Conformational clustering, based on the glycosidic linkage dihedral angles, shows that accounting for the full range of sampled conformations is required to reproduce the experimental data, emphasizing the utility of the molecular simulations in obtaining an atomic detailed description of the conformational properties of the saccharides. Results show the presence of differential conformational preferences as a function of primary sequence and glycosidic linkage types. Significant differences in conformational ensembles associated with the anomeric configuration of a single glycosidic linkage reinforce the impact of such changes on the conformational properties of carbohydrates. The present structural insights of the studied trisaccharides represent a foundation for understanding the range of conformations adopted in larger oligosaccharides and how these molecules encode their conformational heterogeneity into the monosaccharide sequence.

H-1 and C-13 NMR chemical shift data are used by the computer program CASPER to predict chemical shifts of oligo- and polysaccharides. Three types of data are used, namely, those from monosaccharides, disaccharides, and trisaccharides. To improve the accuracy of these predictions we have assigned the H-1 and C-13 NMR chemical shifts of eleven monosaccharides, eleven disaccharides, twenty trisaccharides, and one tetrasaccharide; in total 43 compounds. Five of the oligosaccharides gave two distinct sets of NMR resonances due to the alpha- and beta-anomeric forms resulting in 48 H-1 and C-13 NMR chemical shift data sets. In addition, the pyranose ring forms of Neu5Ac were assigned at two temperatures, due to chemical shift displacements as a function of temperature. The H-1 NMR chemical shifts were refined using total line-shape analysis with the PERCH NMR software. H-1 and C-13 NMR chemical shift predictions were subsequently carried out by the CASPER program (http://www.casper.organ.su.se/casper/) for three branched oligosaccharides having different functional groups at their reducing ends, namely, a mannose-containing pentasaccharide, and two fucose-containing heptasaccharides having N-acetyllactosamine residues in the backbone of their structures. Good to excellent agreement was observed between predicted and experimental H-1 and C-13 NMR chemical shifts showing the utility of the method for structural determination or confirmation of synthesized oligosaccharides.

The computer program casper uses ¹H and ¹³C NMR chemical shift data of mono- to trisaccharides for the prediction of chemical shifts of oligo- and polysaccharides. In order to improve the quality of these predictions the ¹H and ¹³C, as well as ³¹P when applicable, NMR chemical shifts of 30 mono-, di-, and trisaccharides were assigned. The reducing sugars gave two distinct sets of NMR resonances due to the α- and β-anomeric forms. In total 35 ¹H and ¹³C NMR chemical shift data sets were obtained from the oligosaccharides. One- and two-dimensional NMR experiments were used for the chemical shift assignments and special techniques were employed in some cases such as 2D ¹H,¹³C-HSQC Hadamard Transform methodology which was acquired approximately 45 times faster than a regular t₁ incremented ¹H,¹³C-HSQC experiment and a 1D ¹H,¹H-CSSF-TOCSY experiment which was able to distinguish spin-systems in which the target protons were only 3.3 Hz apart. The ¹H NMR chemical shifts were subsequently refined using total line-shape analysis with the PERCH NMR software. The acquired NMR data were then utilized in the casper program (http://www.casper.organ.su.se/casper/) for NMR chemical shift predictions of the O-antigen polysaccharides from Klebsiella O5, Shigella flexneri serotype X, and Salmonella arizonae O62. The data were compared to experimental data of the polysaccharides from the two former strains and the lipopolysaccharide of the latter strain showing excellent agreement between predicted and experimental ¹H and ¹³C NMR chemical shifts.

An investigation of the conformational properties of methyl β-maltoside, methyl α-cellobioside, and methyl β-cellobioside disaccharides using NMR spectroscopy and molecular dynamics (MD) techniques, is presented. Emphasis is placed on validation of a recently presented force field for hexopyranose disaccharides followed by elucidation of the conformational properties of two different types of glycosidic linkages, α-(1 → 4) and β-(1 → 4). Both gas-phase and aqueous-phase simulations are performed to gain insight into the effect of solvent on the conformational properties. A number of transglycosidic J-coupling constants and proton−proton distances are calculated from the simulations and are used to identify the percent sampling of the three glycosidic conformations (syn, anti-, and anti-ψ) and, in turn, describe the flexibility around the glycosidic linkage. The results show the force field to be in overall good agreement with experiment, although some very small limitations are evident. Subsequently, a thorough hydrogen bonding analysis is performed to obtain insights into the conformational properties of the disaccharides. In methyl β-maltoside, competition between HO2′−O3 intramolecular hydrogen bonding and intermolecular hydrogen bonding of those groups with solvent leads to increased sampling of syn, anti-, and anti-ψ conformations and better agreement with NMR J-coupling constants. In methyl α- and β-cellobioside, O5′−HO6 and HO2′−O3 hydrogen bonding interactions are in competition with intermolecular hydrogen bonding involving the solvent molecules. This competition leads to retention of the O5′−HO3 hydrogen bond and increased sampling of the syn region of the /ψ map. Moreover, glycosidic torsions are correlated to the intramolecular hydrogen bonding occurring in the molecules. The present results verify that in the β-(1 → 4)-linkage intramolecular hydrogen bonding in the aqueous phase is due to the decreased ability of water to successfully compete for the O5′ and HO3 hydrogen bonding moieties, in contrast to that occurring between the O5′ and HO6 atoms in this α-(1 → 4)-linkage.

The conformational dynamics of the human milk oligosaccharide lacto-N-fucopentaose (LNF-1), α-l-Fucp-(1 → 2)-β-d-Galp-(1 → 3)-β-d-GlcpNAc-(1 → 3)-β-d-Galp-(1 → 4)-d-Glcp, has been analyzed using NMR spectroscopy and molecular dynamics (MD) computer simulations. Employing the Hadamard ¹³C-excitation technique and the J-HMBC experiment, ¹H,¹³C trans-glycosidic J coupling constants were obtained, and from one- and two-dimensional ¹H,¹H T-ROESY experiments, proton–proton cross-relaxation rates were determined in isotropic D₂O solution. In the lyotropic liquid-crystalline medium consisting of ditetradecylphosphatidylcholine, dihexylphosphatidylcholine, N-cetyl-N,N,N-trimethylammonium bromide, and D₂O, ¹H, ¹H and one-bond ¹H, ¹³C residual dipolar couplings (RDCs), as well as relative sign information on homonuclear RDCs, were determined for the pentasaccharide. Molecular dynamics simulations with explicit water were carried out from which the internal isomerization relaxation time constant, τ_N, was calculated for transitions at the ψ torsion angle of the β-(1 → 3) linkage to the lactosyl group in LNF-1. Compared to the global reorientation time, τ_M, of 0.6 ns determined experimentally in D₂O solution, the time constant for the isomerization relaxation process, τ_N(scaled), is about one-third as large. The NMR parameters derived from the isotropic solution show very good agreement with those calculated from the MD simulations. The only notable difference occurs at the reducing end, which should be more flexible than observed by the molecular simulation, a conclusion in complete agreement with previous ¹³C NMR relaxation data. A hydrogen-bond analysis of the MD simulation revealed that inter-residue hydrogen bonds on the order of 30% were present across the glycosidic linkages to sugar ring oxygens. This finding highlights that intramolecular hydrogen bonds might be important in preserving well-defined structures in otherwise flexible molecules. An analysis including generalized order parameters obtained from nuclear spin relaxation experiments was performed and successfully shown to limit the conformational space accessible to the molecule when the number of experimental data are too scarce for a complete conformational analysis.

Knowledge about the structure, conformation and dynamics of carbohydrates is important in our understanding of the way carbohydrates function in biological systems, for example in intermolecular signaling and recognition. This thesis is a summary of five papers studying these properties in carbohydrate-containing molecules with NMR spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations.

In paper I, the ring-conformations of the six-membered rings of two carbaiduronic analogs were investigated. These carbasugars could potentially be used as hydrolytically stable mimics of iduronic acid in drugs. The study showed that the equilibrium is entirely shifted towards the ⁴C₁ conformation.

Paper II is an investigation of the conformational flexibility and dynamics of two (1→6)-linked disaccharides related to an oligosaccharide epitope expressed on malignant tumor cells.

In paper III, the conformational space of the glycosidic linkage of an alfa-(1→2) linked mannose disaccharide present in N- and O-linked glycoproteins, was studied. A maximum entropy analysis using different priors as background information was used and four new Karplus equations for ³J_C,C and ³J_C,H coupling constants, related to the glycosidic linkage, were presented.

Paper IV describes a structural elucidation of the exopolysaccharide (EPS) produced by Streptococcus thermophilus ST1, a major dairy starter used in yoghurt and cheese production. The EPS contains a hexasaccharide repeating unit of d-galactose and d-glucose residues, which is a new EPS structure of the S. thermophilus species.

In paper V, the dynamics of three generations of glycodendrimers were investigated by NMR diffusion and ¹³C NMR relaxation studies. Three different correlations times were identified, one global correlation time describing the rotation of the dendrimer as a whole, one local correlation time describing the reorientation of the C-H vectors, and one correlation time describing the pulsation of a dendrimer branch.

The conformational space available to the flexible molecule a-D-Manp-(1→2)-a-D-Manp-OMe, amodel for the a-(1→2)-linked mannose disaccharide in N- or O-linked glycoproteins, is determinedusing experimental data and molecular simulation combined with a maximum entropy approach thatleads to a converged population distribution utilizing different input information. A database survey ofthe Protein Data Bank where structures having the constituent disaccharide were retrieved resulted inan ensemble with >200 structures. Subsequent filtering removed erroneous structures and gave thedatabase (DB) ensemble having three classes of mannose-containing compounds, viz., N- and O-linkedstructures, and ligands to proteins. A molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of the disaccharide revealeda two-state equilibrium with a major and a minor conformational state, i.e., the MD ensemble. Thesetwo different conformation ensembles of the disaccharide were compared to measured experimentalspectroscopic data for the molecule in water solution. However, neither of the two populations werecompatible with experimental data from optical rotation, NMR 1H,1H cross-relaxation rates as well ashomo- and heteronuclear 3J couplings. The conformational distributions were subsequently used asbackground information to generate priors that were used in a maximum entropy analysis. Theresulting posteriors, i.e., the population distributions after the application of the maximum entropyanalysis, still showed notable deviations that were not anticipated based on the prior information.Therefore, reparameterization of homo- and heteronuclear Karplus relationships for the glycosidictorsion angles f and y were carried out in which the importance of electronegative substituents on thecoupling pathway was deemed essential resulting in four derived equations, two 3JCOCC and two 3JCOCHbeing different for the f and y torsions, respectively. These Karplus relationships are denotedJCX/SU09. Reapplication of the maximum entropy analysis gave excellent agreement between theMD- and DB-posteriors. The information entropies show that the current reparametrization of theKarplus relationships constitutes a significant improvement. The fH torsion angle of the disaccharide isgoverned by the exo-anomeric effect and for the dominating conformation fH = -40◦ and yH = 33◦.The minor conformational state has a negative yH torsion angle; the relative populations of the majorand the minor states are ~3 : 1. It is anticipated that application of the methodology will be useful toflexible molecules ranging from small organic molecules to large biomolecules.

The use of lactic acid bacteria in fermentation of milk results in favorable physical and rheological properties due to in situ exopolysaccharide (EPS) production. The EPS from S. thermophilus ST1 produces highly viscous aqueous solutions and its structure has been investigated by NMR spectroscopy. Notably, all aspects of the elucidation of its primary structure including component analysis and absolute configuration of the constituent monosaccharides were carried out by NMR spectroscopy. An array of techniques was utilized including, inter alia, PANSY and NOESY-HSQC TILT experiments. The EPS is composed of hexasaccharide repeating units with the following structure: → 3)[α-d-Glcp-(1 → 4)]-β-d-Galp-(1 → 4)-β-d-Glcp-(1 → 4)[β-d-Galf-(1 → 6)]-β-d-Glcp-(1 → 6)-β-d-Glcp-(1 →, in which the residues in square brackets are terminal groups substituting backbone sugar residues that consequently are branch-points in the repeating unit of the polymer. Thus, the EPS consists of a backbone of four sugar residues with two terminal sugar residues making up two side-chains of the repeating unit. The molecular mass of the polymer was determined using translational diffusion experiments which resulted in M_w = 62 kDa, corresponding to 64 repeating units in the EPS.