Structure of the O-specific polysaccharide of the bacterium Providencia alcalifaciens O23 containing a novel component: an amide of D-glucuronic acid with N(epsilon)-(1-carboxyethyl)lysine.

An acidic O-specific polysaccharide was obtained by mild acid degradation of the lipopolysaccharide of the bacterium Providencia alcalifaciens O23 and found to contain D-glucose, D-galactose, 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-galactose, and N epsilon-(1-carboxyethyl)-N alpha-(D-glucuronoyl)lysine. On the basis of full and partial acid hydrolyses, selective solvolysis with anhydrous hydrogen fluoride, and 1H- and 13C-NMR spectroscopy, including two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (COSY), H-detected heteronuclear 1H, 13C multi-quantum coherence (HMQC), and rotating-frame nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy (ROESY), the following structure of the liner tetrasaccharide repeating unit of the polysaccharide was established [structure: see text]