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A Multi‐Faceted Approach to Elucidate the Crystal Structure of D ‐Ribose: Similarities to Protein Structure Determination
Author(s) -
Saenger Wolfram
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201002865
Subject(s) - furanose , pyranose , antiparallel (mathematics) , pseudorotation , ribose , crystal structure , crystallography , crystallization , chemistry , flexibility (engineering) , stereochemistry , ring (chemistry) , physics , mathematics , biochemistry , organic chemistry , statistics , quantum mechanics , magnetic field , enzyme
Recalcitrant to crystallization : After 50 years, the crystal structure of open‐chain D ‐ribose has been determined. It can occur as pyranose or furanose, but in the solid sate, only α‐ and β‐pyranose is found, which contrasts with the β‐furanose form featured exclusively by nucleosides (for example uridine; see figure). This difference arises from the structural flexibility of the β‐furanose ring that easily transforms by pseudorotation from the C2′‐ endo to the C3′‐ endo form in DNA, thus carrying out various functions, whereas pyranose is rigid.