Carbon-13 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of Monosaccharides

This chapter provides an overview of the 13Carbon-nuclear magnetic resonance (13C-NMR) spectroscopy of monosaccharides. The 13C-NMR spectroscopy has become increasingly important as a tool for the characterization and structural elucidation of sugars and their derivatives. Although 13C-NMR is closely related to 1H-NMR spectroscopy, especially when both types of spectra are recorded with Fourier-transform instruments, the two techniques are sufficiently different to be valuable complements to each other. In many cases, in particular when dealing with complex molecules such as polysaccharides, the amount of information obtainable from 1H-NMR spectra is limited as compared to that revealed by 13C- NMR spectra. This chapter provides an almost complete collection of 13C- NMR chemical shifts of monosaccharides, their methyl glycosides, and acetates, along with the examples of shift data for as many different types of monosaccharide derivative as possible. It also provides details on sampling techniques and assignment techniques, and discusses the identity of monosaccharides, their structure determination, and conformational analysis .