Determination of the substituent distribution in O-sulfonylbutyl-(1 -> 4)-glucans

A method has been developed to determine the distribution of substituents i n the glucose units of sulfonylbutylethers of cyclomaltoheptaose (beta-cycl odextrin). This method involves hydrolysis of the glucosidic linkages, perm ethylation, formation of sulfonylchlorides and subsequent transformation to the permethylated sulfonylfluoride derivatives. The latter were thermostab le and could be analyzed by GLC and identified by EI and CIMS. For confirma tion, the 2-, 3-, and 6-O-substituted standard compounds were independently synthesized and characterized by NMR and GLC-MS. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.