The use of bacteriophage-mediated depolymerisation in investigations of the structure of the capsular polysaccharide from Klebsiella serotype K71

The structure (1) of the heptasaccharide repeating-unit of the capsular polysaccharide from Klebsiella serotype K71 follows from methylation analysis and n.m.r. and mass-spectrometric studies of the oligosaccharides obtained on depolymerisation of the polysaccharide with a bacteriophage-borne endo-rhamnosidase. [formula; see text].