Applications of Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry in Carbohydrate Chemistry and Glycobiology

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 23; no. 10; p. 2557
• Main Authors: Mu, Yuqing, Schulz, Benjamin L, Ferro, Vito
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI 07-10-2018; MDPI AG
• Subjects: carbohydrates; Carbohydrates - analysis; Carbohydrates - chemistry; Glycomics; Ion Mobility Spectrometry - trends; ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS); Ions - chemistry; isomeric ions; Isomerism; Mass Spectrometry - trends; Review; carbohydrates; ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS); isomeric ions
• ISSN: 1420-3049; 1420-3049
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules23102557

Carbohydrate analyses are often challenging due to the structural complexity of these molecules, as well as the lack of suitable analytical tools for distinguishing the vast number of possible isomers. The coupled technique, ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS), has been in use for two decades for the analysis of complex biomolecules, and in recent years it has emerged as a powerful technique for the analysis of carbohydrates. For carbohydrates, most studies have focused on the separation and characterization of isomers in biological samples. IM-MS is capable of separating isomeric ions by drift time, and further characterizing them by mass analysis. Applications of IM-MS in carbohydrate analysis are extremely useful and important for understanding many biological mechanisms and for the determination of disease states, although efforts are still needed for higher sensitivity and resolution.