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Updated: Feb 19, 2026

Using a Cyclic Ion Mobility Spectrometer for Tandem Ion Mobility Experiments
Published on: January 20, 2022
Recent advances in ion mobility-mass spectrometry for improved structural characterization of glycans and
Zhengwei Chen1, Matthew S Glover2, Lingjun Li3
1Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
Abstract:
Glycans and glycoconjugates are involved in regulating a vast array of cellular and molecular processes. Despite the importance of glycans in biology and disease, characterization of glycans remains difficult due to their structural complexity and diversity. Mass spectrometry (MS)-based techniques have emerged as the premier analytical tools for characterizing glycans. However, traditional MS-based strategies struggle to distinguish the large number of coexisting isomeric glycans that are indistinguishable by mass alone. Because of this, ion mobility spectrometry coupled to MS (IM-MS) has received considerable attention as an analytical tool for improving glycan characterization due to the capability of IM to resolve isomeric glycans before MS measurements. In this review, we present recent improvements in IM-MS instrumentation and methods for the structural characterization of isomeric glycans. In addition, we highlight recent applications of IM-MS that illustrate the enormous potential of this technology in a variety of research areas, including glycomics, glycoproteomics, and glycobiology.
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