DETERMINATION OF STRUCTURAL ISOMERS OF XYLOGLUCAN OCTASACCHARIDES USING POST-SOURCE DECAY FRAGMENT ANALYSIS IN MALDI-TOF MASS-SPECTROMETRY

Post-source decay (PSD) fragment analyses by MALDI-TOFMS were applied to the characterization of two analogous structure isomers of xylogluc an octasaccharides (XXLGol and XLXGol) from Tamarind seed. Almost all possible fragment ions were detected by a multi-site cleavage at the g lycosidic linkages. The same fragment ions were observed in their spec tra, but the relative intensities of some of the ions differed greatly . The detailed investigation of the relative intensities of the fragme nt ions enabled definitely to distinguish the analogous structure isom ers of the highly branched octasaccharides. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.