Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometric analysis of polysulfated-derived oligosaccharides...

A better understanding of the biological roles of carbohydrates requires the use of tools able to provide efficient and rapid structural information. Unfortunately, highly acidic oligomers-such as polysulfated oligosaccharides-are very challenging to characterize because of their high polarity, structural diversity, and sulfate lability. These features pose special problems for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometric (MALDI-MS) analysis because polysulfated carbohydrates exhibit poor ionization efficiency and usually do not produce any signal. The present report demonstrates how MALDI-MS can be used to derive structural and compositional information from pure and mixed fractions of polysulfated oligosaccharides. Indeed, pyrenemethylguanidine (pmg, a derivatizing agent and ionization efficiency enhancer) was used for the analysis of di- to decasaccharides, carrying from two to nine sulfate groups. The method is applied to various highly sulfated chondroitin and carrageenan oligosaccharides as well as to the analysis of mixtures of compounds. In the mass spectra, the observation of a unique pmg-complexed ladder of peaks in both ionization modes allows an easy and rapid determination of both the number of sulfate groups carried by the analyte and its molecular weight. Moreover, we have developed a software tool for the rapid and automatic structural elucidation of carrageenans based on the mass spectra obtained.