DIFFERENTIATION OF ISOMERIC ALDITOL HEXAACETATES AND IDENTIFICATION OF ALDOHEXOSES BY ELECTRON-IMPACT MASS-SPECTROMETRY

Isomeric aldohexose sugars derivatized using the alditol acetate metho d produce diastereomeric products that can be differentiated by electr on impact (EI)-mass spectrometry. The use of sodium borodeuteride for reduction in the derivatization scheme enables identification of aldoh exoses because their hexitol hexaacetate products retain the chirality of the starting sugar. The observed differences in the EI-mass spectr a were visualized using principal component analysis and cluster analy sis. The statistical significance of these differences was evaluated u sing Hotelling's T-2 statistic for the comparison of multivariate clus ter means. The electron impact mass spectra of nondeuterated and deute rated hexitol hexaacetates permit differentiation of the diastereomeri c nondeuterated hexitol hexaacetates as well as identification of all of the aldohexoses.