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Updated: Nov 16, 2025

Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Glycosphingolipid Antigens
Published on: April 16, 2013
Unravelling the structural complexity of glycolipids with cryogenic infrared spectroscopy
Carla Kirschbaum1,2, Kim Greis1,2, Eike Mucha2
1Institut für Chemie und Biochemie, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Abstract:
Glycolipids are complex glycoconjugates composed of a glycan headgroup and a lipid moiety. Their modular biosynthesis creates a vast amount of diverse and often isomeric structures, which fulfill highly specific biological functions. To date, no gold-standard analytical technique can provide a comprehensive structural elucidation of complex glycolipids, and insufficient tools for isomer distinction can lead to wrong assignments. Herein we use cryogenic gas-phase infrared spectroscopy to systematically investigate different kinds of isomerism in immunologically relevant glycolipids. We show that all structural features, including isomeric glycan headgroups, anomeric configurations and different lipid moieties, can be unambiguously resolved by diagnostic spectroscopic fingerprints in a narrow spectral range. The results allow for the characterization of isomeric glycolipid mixtures and biological applications.
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