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- Posts: 2
- Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2015 10:08 am
I'm new in this forum, so I'll quickly introduce myself and my research: I'm doing my PhD in the Department of Plant Systems Biology in Ghent, Belgium. I'm working on the discovery of plant genes that are involved in the biosynthesis of so-called saponins. Those are steroidal or triterpenoidal structures with hydroxy and carboxy functions on different positions. In planta, these saponins occur with complex glycosylations.
For an experiment, I would like to specifically derivatize the carboxy functions present in a monoglycosylated analyte (of which I don't know the exact chemical sttructure) for reverse phase HPLC analysis. The nature of the derivatization is not of importance to me, as I only hope to get structural information of the analyte (i.e. how many carboxy groups are present?)
The following criteria would have to be met:
-The derivatization mustn't hydrolyze the O-glycosidic bond between sugar and triterpene aglycone,
-It should be specific for carboxy groups and musn't react with OH groups, and
-I'm working in a biochemistry lab. We don't have facilities and equipment to deal with hazardous chemical compounds. A compound which isn't too toxic and is easy to use would be nice (something like TMS derivatization for GC).
I browsed the internet a bit, but couldn't really come up with anything. Most of the alkylation reagents seem to be very toxic (for understandable reasons). Would something like boron trifluoride propanol be an option?
Thanks a lot for your help!
Greets,
Philipp