Intestinal glycoproteins of germfree rats. IV. Oligosaccharides obtained by chemical degradation of a water-soluble glycoprotein fraction.

Removal of sialic acid from the glycoprotein and subsequent degradation with sodium hydroxide-sodium borohydride resulted in the formation of a number of low-molecular weight carbohydrate compounds of which three were isolated and characterized: 2-deoxy-2-acetamido-D-galactitol; O-alpha-6-fucopyranosyl (1 leads to 2)-O-Beta-D-galactopyranosyl-(1 leads to 3)-2-deoxy-2-acetamido-D-galactitol (oligosaccharide I); O-Beta-D galactopyranosyl-(1 leads to 3)-2-deoxy-2-acetamido-D-galactitol (oligosaccharide II). From an acetolysate of the desialized glycoprotein a fourth component was obtained and characterized to be O-Beta-D-galactopyranosyl-(1 leads to 4)-2-deoxy-2-acetamido-D-glucose (oligosaccharide III).