Studies on a Microchemical Method for Determination of the Degree of Polymerization of Neutral Oligo- and Polysaccharides

A method devised for quantitative separation of trace amounts of alditols from their mixtures with large amounts of monosaccharides was applied in determination of the $DP¯$ n of some oligosaccharides and glucans. The DP values obtained for oligosaccharides agreed very closely with those expected. The values obtained for polysaccharides were also consistent with those obtained by different chemical methods. This method is applicable to almost all neutral oligo-. and polysaccharides with reducing end-groups, and can be used to determine the reducing end-groups in very small amounts of material.