New Techniques for the Rapid Characterization of Oligonucleotides by Mass Spectrometry

Abstract
Recent advances in combined HPLC/electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry provide effective new capabilities for the rapid characterization of oligonucleotides. Accurate mass measurements with errors <0.3 Da, and determination of base and sugar modification and of nearest neighbor identities, can be routinely carried out on 10-100 component mixtures of RNA or DNA. These procedures are widely applicable in structural and analytical studies involving mixtures of oligonucleotides.