Oligosaccharide structures: theory versus experiment.

Recently, the interdependency of theoretical and experimental approaches in the structure determination of oligosaccharides has been confirmed. More accurate simulations are possible because of the advances in software and computers. Meanwhile, improvements in NMR techniques permit the measurement of numerous structural and dynamical parameters, either for the free state or for carbohydrate ligands bound to receptors. Several crystal structures of isolated or protein-complexed oligosaccharides give new clues for modeling the intermolecular forces that drive the interactions.