POST-SOURCE DECAY FRAGMENT ANALYSIS OF A HIGHLY BRANCHED NONASACCHARIDE OF XYLOGLUCAN USING MALDI-TOF MASS-SPECTROMETRY

A highly branched nonasaccharide of xyloglucan was analyzed by MALDI-T OFMS post-source decay fragment analysis. The fragmentation occurred o nly at glycosidic bonds at the non-reducing terminal side of the glyco sidic oxygen. In the MALDI-PSD fragment spectrum, almost all fragment ions, possibly produced by a three-site cleavage, were observed. The l arge amount of fragment mass information allowed us to determine the s equentially fine structure of the highly branched oligosaccharide.