Determining the isomeric heterogeneity of neutral oligosaccharide-alditols of bovine submaxillary mucin using negative ion traveling wave ion mobility mass spectrometry.

Negative ions produced by electrospray ionization were used to evaluate the isomeric heterogeneity of neutral oligosaccharide-alditols isolated from bovine submaxillary mucin (BSM). The oligosaccharide-alditol mixture was preseparated on an off-line high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) column, and the structural homogeneity of individual LC fractions was investigated using a Synapt G2 traveling wave ion mobility spectrometer coupled between quadupole and time-of-flight mass spectrometers. Mixtures of isomers separated by both chromatography and ion mobility spectrometry were studied. Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) of multiple mobility peaks having the same mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) demonstrated the presence of different structural isomers and not differences in ion conformations due to charge site location. Although the oligosaccharide-alditol mixture was originally separated by HPLC, multiple ion mobility peaks due to structural isomers were observed for a number of oligosaccharide-alditols from single LC fractions. The collision-induced dissociation cells located in front of and after the ion mobility separation device enabled oligosaccharide precursor or product ions to be separated by ion mobility and independent fragmentation spectra to be acquired for isomeric carbohydrate precursor or product ions. MS/MS spectra so obtained for independent mobility peaks at a single m/z demonstrated the presence of structural variants or stereochemical isomers having the same molecular formula. This was observed both for oligosaccharide precursor and product ions. In addition, mobilities of both M - H and M + Cl ions, formed by adding NH4OH or NH4Cl to the electrospray solvent, were examined and compared for selected oligosaccharide-alditols. Better separation among structural isomers appeared to be achieved for some M + Cl anions.