DO INULIN OLIGOMERS ADOPT A REGULAR HELICAL FORM IN SOLUTION

The C-13 NMR spectra of inulin oligomers in D2O with degree of polymer ization (DP) of 3 through 9, along with two other inulin oligomer mixt ures of average DP = 17 and DP = 31 were recorded. Significant variati ons in the chemical shift of some fructofuranose carbon signals indica tes that unlike glucans, simple helical structures are not the predomi nant conformation far inulin oligomers-at least up to DP = 9. Models o f the DP = 5 oligomer show that it should prefer a single helical conf ormation which however, would not be accessible to longer DP oligomers due to severe steric interactions.