Diffusion-edited NMR spectra of heparin contaminants

Abstract

Diffusion NMR is a useful method for the analysis of mixtures, providing information about the number of components as well as insight into their relative sizes. This work explores the use of diffusion-edited NMR measurements for the identification of the glycosaminoglycan impurities dermatan sulfate (DS), chondroitin sulfate (CS), and oversulfated chondroitin sulfate (OSCS) in solutions of heparin subjected to enzymatic digestion. Enzymatic digestion significantly improves the resolution of the biopolymer impurities in diffusion-edited 1H NMR spectra facilitating identification of high molecular weight contaminants.