posted on 2021-03-05, 17:09authored bySimone Nicolardi, A. Abragam Joseph, Qian Zhu, Zhengnan Shen, Alonso Pardo-Vargas, Fabrizio Chiodo, Antonio Molinaro, Alba Silipo, Yuri E. M. van der Burgt, Biao Yu, Peter H. Seeberger, Manfred Wuhrer
Carbohydrates, such
as oligo- and polysaccharides, are highly abundant
biopolymers that are involved in numerous processes. The study of
their structure and functions is commonly based on a material that
is isolated from complex natural sources. However, a more precise
analysis requires pure compounds with well-defined structures that
can be obtained from chemical or enzymatic syntheses. Novel synthetic
strategies have increased the accessibility of larger monodisperse
polysaccharides, posing a challenge to the analytical methods used
for their molecular characterization. Here, we present wide mass range
ultrahigh-resolution matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI)
Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometry
(MS) as a powerful platform for the analysis of synthetic oligo- and
polysaccharides. Synthetic carbohydrates 16-, 64-, 100-, and 151-mers
were mass analyzed and characterized by MALDI in-source decay FT-ICR
MS. Detection of fragment ions generated from glycosidic bond cleavage
(or cross-ring cleavage) provided information of the monosaccharide
content and the linkage type, allowing for the corroboration of the
carbohydrate compositions and structures.