Conformational studies of oligosaccharides and glycopeptides: Complementarity of NMR, X-ray crystallography, and molecular modelling

The combination of experimental and theoretical techniques gives considerable insight into oligosaccharide conformation. Through this, it became relatively straightforward to characterize the conformational properties of individual glycosidic linkages. Different types of linkages show different types of conformational behavior, one or more conformers, and different degrees of flexibility. A single type of linkage can show different behavior in different environments, the conformational freedom being further reduced by the surrounding residues.