SGER: Exploratory NMR for Oligosaccharide Structure

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In this SGER award, funded by the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program, Prof. Athan J. Shaka of University of California, Irvine and his graduate and undergraduate student colleagues will conduct exploratory research to develop isotagging reactions and multidimensional NMR methods in order to determine the primary structure of complex oligosaccharides. The ultimate aim of this research is to develop fast, sensitive, and robust methods for the determination of the primary structure in these important class of biologically active compounds.Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has become the primary tool for determining the structures of organic molecules. Despite this success, there are some classes of molecules that because of their chemical form do not lend themselves to NMR structure determination. Thus, new methods are called for. Prof. Shaka and his students will develop these methods to allow researchers to determine the nature and connectivity of complex polysaccharides -- molecules in which different sugars are connected together in complex ways. These molecules are biologically active, and are important in a number of biological contexts. In addition to the broader scientific impact of this work, the methods developed by Prof. Shaka and his students may be amenable for use in structure determination in other complex organic molecules. In addition, Prof. Shaka's students will receive advanced training in cutting edge NMR methods.