Purification of Fluorescently Derivatized N-Glycans by Magnetic Iron Nanoparticles

A novel glycoanalytical approach was developed in this study for the purification of fluorescently derivatized N-glycans. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) modified iron-nanoparticles were synthetized by the combination of sonochemical treatment and combustion method. The prepared nanomaterials were applied for a systematic clean-up optimization to maximize purification efficiency of 2-AA labelled glycans. PEG 1000 modified iron-oxalate was found to be the most effective for the selective enrichment of serum N-glycans providing high reproducibility. Different acetonitrile percentages for binding and washing steps were also tested to ensure the same relative peak areas compared to the unpurified sample. The generated novel clean-up strategy provides a potential route to use in-house synthetized magnetic nanoparticles for glycan sample preparation.