Structural characterization of negatively charged glycosaminoglycans using high-energy (50–150 keV) collisional activation

Abstract

Anionic glycosaminoglycan mono- and disaccharides (IVA, IH and IS) were subjected to very high-energy collisions (50–150 keV ion kinetic energy prior to collision) with Neon gas in an accelerator mass spectrometer, to explore the possibility of using this method to structurally characterize anionic sugars. Experiments were also conducted for the Na +·IH 2− and Na +·IS 3− sodiated complexes. This high-energy ion collision technique is applied here to sugars for the first time. Low-energy collision-induced dissociation (CID) measurements obtained using resonance excitation in a quadrupole ion-trap are presented for comparison. The high-energy measurements produce a rich variety of fragment ions, illustrating the general utility of the technique for providing detailed information for structurally characterizing sugar ions. We discuss the observed fragmentation patterns with reference to the known fragmentation behavior of small gas-phase monoanions, multiply charged anions and cation-dianion complexes.