Selective cleavage of vancosamine, glucose, and N-methyl-leucine from vancomycin and related antibiotics

Reaction of vancomycin and related antibiotics with trifluoroacetic acid at –15 °C for 40 h selectively cleaved the amino sugar vancosamine; the second sugar, glucose, was removed by reaction with trifluoroacetic acid at 50 °C for 3 h, and the N-terminal leucine moiety was cleaved using the Edman degradation procedure.