Synthesis of a dibenzylchitin-type polysaccharide by acid-catalyzed polymerization

This paper describes the polymerization of 2-methyl-(3,6-di-O-benzyl- 1,2-dideoxy-α-D -glucopyrano)-2,1-d]-2-oxazoline ( 1 ) with an acid catalyst. The polymerization proceeds involving stereoregular glycosylation to give polysaccharide 2 . The polymer structure, 2-acetamido-3,6-di-O-benzyl-2-deoxy-(l→4)-β-D -glucopyranan was determined by means of ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, and IR spectra as well as elemental analysis. The molecular weight was at most 4900 (degree of polymerization ≈ 13).