THE USE OF OSAZONES AS MATRICES FOR THE MATRIX-ASSISTED LASER DESORPTION IONIZATION MASS-SPECTROMETRY OF CARBOHYDRATES/

Fifteen sugar osazones were synthesized and evaluated for their use as matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization matrices. Various carbohy drate samples were analyzed indicating that D- or L-arabinosazone, pre pared from D- or L-arabinose and phenylhydrazine, gave the overall bes t performance. The arabinosazones facilitated superior analyses in pro viding a highly uniform distribution of sample molecules within the ma trix microcrystals, and a possibility of using low laser energy for ir radiation, leading to high spectral resolution and low matrix backgrou nd. The arabinosazones with a moderate content of sodium ions promoted specific fragmentation for certain carbohydrates tested The 50 fmol a mounts of maltohexaose and maltoheptaose (present in 0.1 mu l of sampl e/matrix solution) were detected at: a signal-to-background ratio of 3 :1. (C) 1997 Academic Press, Inc.