The Structure of an Antibiotic Kanamycin

The antibiotic kanamycin was degraded with methanolic hydrogen chloride and was determined to be composed of three compounds: deoxystreptamine, 6-amino-6-deoxy-d-glucopyranose and 3-amino-3-deoxy-d-glucopyranose. From the chemical and physical data on the antibiotic and its fragments, kanamycin was shown to be O-α-6-amino-6-deoxy-d-glucopyranosyl-(1→4 or 6)-O-α-3-amino-3-deoxy-d-glucopyranosyl-(1→6 or 4)]-1,3-diamino-1, 2, 3-trideoxy-myo-inositol.