New types of α-amylase enzyme-inhibitory polysaccharides from d-glucal

We describe the synthesis of new types of α-amylase enzyme-inhibitory polysaccharides obtained by polycondensation of 3,6-Di-O-acetyl-d-glucal followed by deacetylation. The structure of the resulting new polysaccharides containing unique 2,3-unsaturated hexopyranose repeating units were unambiguously determined by NMR and MALDI-TOF MS methods. The deacetylated polysaccharides proved to be a semicompetitive inhibitor of the human salivary amylase enzyme.