Biography
Vallurupalli Sita Raghavendra Rao, Indian biophysicist (01 February 1931 – 26 September 2013)
Authored over 150 articles
Authored the book Conformation of Carbohydrates, only one of its kind (1988)
First to develop methods for investigating the structure of oligosaccharides and long-chain polysaccharides by using the idea of dihedral angles and of the bonds meeting at the bridge oxygen
Showed that random coil conformation of amylose is comprised of largely left-handed helical segments interspersed with short right handed helical segments
Explained how lectins recognize the subtle configurational differences in saccharides
Gave important contributions to stereochemistry of pyranose sugars and their derivatives that were widely referred
Important studies on cell wall polysaccharides and the action of antibiotics (beta-lactam compounds)
