The Structure of the Capsular Polysaccharide of <i>Klebsiella</i> K-type 5

Abstract

Methylation, periodate oxidation and partial hydrolysis studies on the capsular polysaccharide, and on the carboxyl reduced polymer of Klebsiella K5 show the structure to consist of a repeating unit:[Formula: see text]The polysaccharide has a molecular weight (by gel filtration) of 9 × 10 5 and is the first Klebsiella capsule to be found lacking a carbohydrate side chain. The proportion of O-acetyl and pyruvate groups was determined by p.m.r. spectroscopy.