Structures of some bacterial polysaccharides with focus on pneumococcal polysaccharides and their associated C-polysaccharide

Abstract: This thesis describes the chemical structures of the capsular polysaccharides from Streptococcus pneumoniae types 18B, 32F, and 32A. The structure of the pneumococcal common antigen, C-polysaccharide, from a non-capsulated pneumococcal strain, CSR SCS2, is described and the structure of the C-polysaccharide associated with pneumococcal types 18B, 32F, and 32A. Two distinct forms of C-polysaccharide were demonstrated, mono- or disubstituted with phosphorylcholine. In addition, the structures of the capsular polysaccharide from Sphingomonas paucimobilis strain 1-886 and the O- polysaccharide part from the lipopolysaccharide of the Hafnia alvei strain Y166/91 is described. The principal methods used in these studies were nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, methylation analysis, and specific chemical degradations.