Mass Spectrometry Group, Korea Basic Science Institute, Taejon 305-333, Korea Structural analyses of oligosaccharide-malononitrile derivatives were conducted by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization post-source decay (MALDI-PSD) analysis in positive ion mode.
The malononitrile derivatives of oligosaccharides, which were developed for highly sensitive detection of multi-component oligosaccharides by negative ion electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI MS), were detected by positive-ion MALDI with the detection limit of 2 pmol level from the crude derivatization sample.
The used matrix affected drastically the analytical results of oligosaccharide-malononitrile derivative by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI MS). The malononitrile derivatization of oligosaccharide also affect the patterns of MALDI-PSD spectra and give much more structural information than the free oligosaccharide.