Cyclic ion mobility mass spectrometry distinguishes anomers and open-ring forms of pentasaccharides

There is increasing biopharmaceutical interest in oligosaccharides and glycosylation. A key requirement for these sample types is the ability to characterize the chain length, branching, type of monomers, and importantly stereochemistry and anomeric configuration. Herein, we showcase the multi-function capability of a cyclic ion mobility (cIM) separator embedded in a quadrupole/time-of-flight mass spectrometer (Q-ToF MS). The instrument design enables selective activation of mobility-separated precursors followed by cIM separation of product ions, an approach analogous to MSn. Using high cIM resolution, we demonstrate the separation of three isomeric pentasaccharides and, moreover, that three components are present for each compound. We show that structural differences between product ions reflect the precursor differences in some cases but not others. These findings are corroborated by a heavy oxygen labelling approach. Using this methodology, the identity of fragment ions may be assigned. This enables us to postulate that the two main components observed for each pentasaccharide are anomeric forms. The remaining low abundance component is assigned as an open-ring form