Differential EI fragmentation pathways for peracetylated C-glycoside ketones as a consequence of bicyclic ketal ring structures

Analysis of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry: an update for 2007-2008

This review is the fifth update of the original review, published in 1999, on the application of MALDI mass spectrometry to the analysis of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates and brings coverage of the literature to the end of 2008. The first section of the review covers fundamental studies, fragmentation of carbohydrate ions, use of derivatives and new software developments for analysis of carbohydrate spectra. Among newer areas of method development are glycan arrays, MALDI imaging and the use of ion mobility spectrometry. The second section of the review discusses applications of MALDI MS to the analysis of different types of carbohydrate. Specific compound classes that are covered include carbohydrate polymers from plants, N- and O-linked glycans from glycoproteins, biopharmaceuticals, glycated proteins, glycolipids, glycosides and various other natural products. There is a short section on the use of MALDI mass spectrometry for the study of enzymes involved in glycan processing and a section on the use of MALDI MS to monitor products of the chemical synthesis of carbohydrates with emphasis on carbohydrate-protein complexes and glycodendrimers. Corresponding analyses by electrospray ionization now appear to outnumber those performed by MALDI and the amount of literature makes a comprehensive review on this technique impractical. However, most of the work relating to sample preparation and glycan synthesis is equally relevant to electrospray and, consequently, those proposing analyses by electrospray should also find material in this review of interest.

Functionalized C-glycoside ketohydrazones: carbohydrate derivatives that retain the ring integrity of the terminal reducing sugar

Glycosylation often mediates important biological processes through the interaction of carbohydrates with complementary proteins. Most chemical tools for the functional analysis of glycans are highly dependent upon various linkage chemistries that involve the reducing terminus of carbohydrates. However, because of ring opening, the structural integrity of the reducing sugar ring (pyranose or furanose) is lost during these techniques, resulting in derivatized carboydrates that markedly differ from the parent molecule. This paper describes a new aqueous-based, one-pot strategy that involves first converting the sugar to a C-glycoside ketone, followed by conversion to ketohydrazones or oximes. Hence, the C-glycoside ketones are tagged with fluorescence, colored, cationic or biotin-labeled groups or immobilized onto hydrazine-functionalized beads. No activating or protecting groups are required, and the chemistry is mild enough for a wide range of carbohydrates. We demonstrate the versatility of the approach to diverse glycans, including bead immobilization and lectin analysis of acarbose, an antidiabetic drug, to dabsyl-tagged enzyme substrates to screen cellulases, and for the analysis of plant cell wall hemicellulosics.

Electron impact ion fragmentation pathways of peracetylated C-glycoside ketones derived from cyclic 1,3-diketones

Monosaccharide C-glycoside ketones have been synthesized by aqueous-based Knoevenagel condensation of isotopically labeled and unlabeled aldoses with cyclic diketones, 5,5-dimethyl-1,3-cyclohexanedione (dimedone) and 1,3-cyclohexanedione (1,3-CHD). The reaction products and their corresponding acetylated analogs produce characteristic molecular adduct ions by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Analysis of the peracetylated C-glycosides by electron ionization (EI) gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) revealed diagnostic fragment ions that have been used to deduce the EI fragmentation pathways and the structure of each C-glycoside ketone. Characteristic gluco- and ribo-specific ions were observed at m/z 350 and 278, respectively. Ions common to both carbohydrate fragmentation pathways were observed at m/z 193 and 169 for the dimedone-C-glycosides, and m/z 165 and 141 for the 1,3-CHD-C-glycosides. Ions with m/z 169 and 141 retain the anomeric carbon (carbon-1) of the original sugar, while m/z 193 and 165 are shown to retain carbons-1, 2, and 3.