| Abstract: | Chondroitin 6-sulfate (sodium salt), dermatan sulfate (sodium salt), and their methyl esters were depolymerized into mixtures of methylated, even-numbered oligosaccharides having a 4,5-unsaturated uronic acid, nonreducing end-group, respectively, with excess diazomethane in the presence of a small proportion of water. The methyl ester of chondroitin 6-sulfate was more effectively cleaved than the sodium salt, whereas the methyl ester of dermatan sulfate was depolymerized at a rate slightly higher than the sodium salt. About half of the acetamido group in the depolymerized product of the methyl ester of these polysaccharides was N-methylated. |
