Glycosidic α-linked mannopyranose disaccharides: an NMR spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulation study employing additive and Drude polarizable force fields

d-Mannose is a structural component in N-linked glycoproteins from viruses and mammals as well as in polysaccharides from fungi and bacteria. Structural components often consist of d-Manp residues joined via α-(1→2)-, α-(1→3)-, α-(1→4)- or α-(1→6)-linkages. As models for these oligo- and polysaccharides, a series of mannose-containing disaccharides have been investigated with respect to conformation and dynamics. Translational diffusion NMR experiments were performed to deduce rotational correlation times for the molecules, 1D (1)H,(1)H-NOESY and 1D (1)H,(1)H-T-ROESY NMR experiments were carried out to obtain inter-residue proton–proton distances and one-dimensional long-range and 2D J-HMBC experiments were acquired to gain information about conformationally dependent heteronuclear coupling constants across glycosidic linkages. To attain further spectroscopic data, the doubly (13)C-isotope labeled α-d-[1,2-(13)C(2)]Manp-(1→4)-α-d-Manp-OMe was synthesized thereby facilitating conformational analysis based on (13)C,(13)C coupling constants as interpreted by Karplus-type relationships. Molecular dynamics simulations were carried out for the disaccharides with explicit water as solvent using the additive CHARMM36 and Drude polarizable force fields for carbohydrates, where the latter showed broader population distributions. Both simulations sampled conformational space in such a way that inter-glycosidic proton–proton distances were very well described whereas in some cases deviations were observed between calculated conformationally dependent NMR scalar coupling constants and those determined from experiment, with closely similar root-mean-square differences for the two force fields. However, analyses of dipole moments and radial distribution functions with water of the hydroxyl groups indicate differences in the underlying physical forces dictating the wider conformational sampling with the Drude polarizable versus additive C36 force field and indicate the improved utility of the Drude polarizable model in investigating complex carbohydrates.