Scope and limitations of rotating-frame nuclear Overhauser enhancement spectroscopy applied to oligosaccharides.

Two-dimensional rotating-frame nuclear Overhauser enhancement spectroscopy has been applied to milk oligosaccharides containing the blood-group determinants Lea, Led, or Leb. The results indicate a large number of dipolar interactions that are consistent with the preferred conformations described for these blood-group determinants. Despite careful experimental conditions, coherent transfer processes are not suppressed completely, allowing only a qualitative evaluation of the nuclear Overhauser data. The 1H- and 13C-n.m.r. spectra are assigned by comparison with literature data and by application of two-dimensional 13C-1H shift-correlation spectroscopy.