Structural Elucidation of the O‐Antigenic Polysaccharide from Escherichia coli O44: H18

The O-antigen polysaccharide of the lipopolysaccharide from the enteroaggregative Escherichia coli O44:H18 has been investigated. Sugar and methylation analysis, 1H- and 13C-NMR spectroscopy revealed that the polysaccharide is composed of pentasaccharide repeating units. The sequence of sugar residues was determined by use of two-dimensional nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy and heteronuclear multiple bond correlation experiments. The structure of the repeating unit of the O-antigen from Escherichia coli O44:H18 is as follows.