A structural investigation of the capsular polysaccharide of Klebsiella K14.

The structure of the capsular polysaccharide isolated from Klebsiella serotype K14 has been investigated employing a combination of chemical and spectroscopic methods. The repeating structure is shown to be of the "4 + 1 + 1" type, and it carries a 1-carboxyethylidene acetal substituent at positions 4 and 6 of a terminal glucose residue. The polysaccharide is one of a group of only three Klebsiella polysaccharides that have been found to contain a galactofuranose residue in the repeating unit. The repeating unit has the following structure: (Formula: see text).