Glycan analysis by ion mobility-mass spectrometry and gas-phase spectroscopy

Abstract

Due to the existence of numerous isomers, the in-depth analysis of glycans represents a major challenge. Currently, the majority of glycans are analysed using mass spectrometry (MS)-based techniques, which can provide information on regioisomers but usually fail to differentiate stereoisomers. A promising approach to overcome this limitation is to implement ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) as an additional gas-phase separation dimension. This review highlights recent developments in which IM-MS was used as a tool for comprehensive glycan analysis or as rapid screening method for glycan feature analysis. Furthermore, we summarize a series of very recent investigations in which gas-phase spectroscopy is applied to study glycans and discuss the potential of the hyphenation between IM-MS and infrared (IR) spectroscopy as a future tool for glycomics and glycoproteomics.

Neutral Human Milk Oligosaccharides Are Associated with Multiple Fixed and Modifiable Maternal and Infant Characteristics

“…Currently, a variety of techniques are applied to characterize oligosaccharides structures. For instance, HPLC-MS [22,37,38], capillary electrophoresis (CE) [39], LC-MS with the fluorous derivatization method [23], gas-phase spectroscopy [12], and hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC)-ESI-MS/MS [32] have developed to separate and quantitatively determine several oligosaccharides. Most of the quantitative methods are based on HPLC-MS.…”

“…Recently, researchers have discovered that approximately 150 oligosaccharide structures in human milk have been identified [11]. The core group of HMOs present at the reducing end is either lactose or N-acetyl-lactosamine (LacNAc) [12]. The core group can be further decorated with fucose residues by the action of fucosyltransferases (FUTs), and sialic acid residues by the action of sialylltransferases [13].…”

Separation of isomeric glycans by ion mobility spectrometry – the impact of fluorescent labelling

“…7 Another emerging and promising technique capable of separating glycan isomers is ion mobility spectrometry (IMS). 5,8,9 Here, ions travel through a drift cell filled with an inert buffer gas under the influence of a weak electric field and undergo low-energy collisions with the buffer gas. Compact ions collide less frequently with the buffer gas than more extended ions, which leads to a separation based on size, shape and charge.…”

Advances in mass spectrometry‐based glycomics

“…Drift time can be converted into a rotationally‐averaged collision cross‐section (CCS) which is independent to the instrument parameters and is correlated to the shape of ions. Isomeric identification and characterization of glycans can be achieved by coupling ion mobility–spectrometry and mass spectrometry (IM–MS) .…”