Gas chromatographic determination of (phosphorylated) 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonic acid, heptoses and glucosamine in bacterial lipopolysaccharides after treatment with hydrofluoric acid, methanolysis and trifluoroacetylation.

Quantification of phosphorylated sugar constituents of lipopolysaccharides has been performed by the following sequence: dephosphorylation by treatment with hydrofluoric acid, cleavage to monomeric constituents by methanolysis and analysis of the released sugars by capillary gas chromatography. Lipopolysaccharides of Salmonella minnesota Rd1P+, Bordetella pertussis NIH 114 and Vibrio cholerae, NAG and 95R strains, were used as model substances. Comparison of the chromatographic data obtained from hydrofluoric acid-treated and untreated lipopolysaccharide preparations indicated that all lipopolysaccharides examined contained one moiety of glucosamine bound to phosphate in a stable linkage. 2-Keto-3-deoxyoctonic acid appeared phosphorylated to a variable extent. Lipopolysaccharides of the two V. cholerae strains contained one moiety of fully phosphorylated 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonic acid, whereas in that of S. minnesota Rd1P+ only one of the three moieties was phosphorylated. Lipopolysaccharide of B. pertussis had one moiety of 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonic acid, ca. 70% phosphorylated. All four of the preparations examined contained L-glycero-D-manno-heptose in amounts varying from 2.6 to 5.2 moieties. In the lipopolysaccharides of B. pertussis and strain 95R of V. cholerae this sugar was unphosphorylated, whereas the two remaining strains contained one phosphorylated moiety of this sugar. Phosphorylated lipopolysaccharide constituents can be analysed by this approach on a 50-100 micrograms scale.