Fmoc N-hydroxysuccinimide ester: A facile and multifunctional role in N-glycan analysis

N-glycans that are fluorescently tagged by glycosylamine acylation have become a promising way for glycan biomarker discovery. Here, we describe a simple and rapid method using Fmoc N-hydroxysuccinimide ester (Fmoc-OSu) to label N-glycans by reacting with their corresponding intermediate glycosylamines produced by microwave-assisted deglycosylation. After optimizing reaction conditions, this derivatization reaction can be effectively achieved under 40 °C for 1 h. Moreover, the comparison of fluorescent intensities for Fmoc-OSu, Fmoc-Cl and 2-AA labeling strategies were also performed. Among which, the fluorescent intensities of Fmoc-OSu labeled glycan derivatives were approximately 5 and 13 times higher than that labeled by Fmoc-Cl and 2-AA respectively. Furthermore, the developed derivatization strategy has also been applied for analyzing serum N-glycans, aiming to screen specific biomarkers for early diagnosis of lung squamous cell cancer. More interestingly, the preparation of free reducing N-glycan standards have been achieved by the combination of HPLC fraction of Fmoc labeled glycan derivatives and Fmoc releasing chemistry. Overall, this proposed method has the potential to be used in functional glycomic study.