Tracing glycoprotein structures: electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometric analysis of sugar–peptide adducts

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Abstract
Owing to the diversity of carbohydrate structures and their significance for the function of many biopolymers, structural analysis of various carbohydrate‐related compounds is of great importance. Electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI‐MS/MS) was used to establish the fragmentation behaviour of a range of sugar–peptide adducts as model compounds of widespread glycoprotein structures. The compounds used in this study were chosen to provide correlation of distinct fragment ions with specific structural differences, namely position and type of carbohydrate–peptide bond and structure of the sugar moiety. All compounds show N‐ and C‐terminal sequence ions along with losses of up to three water molecules. Fructose‐related Amadori compounds exhibit M + 78 modified N‐terminal peptide fragment ions. Fragmentation of glucose–peptide esters is characterized by the sugar ring fragmentation. Additionally, under the ESI‐MS conditions applied, the esters studied undergo intramolecular reaction giving cyclic sugar–peptide structures that can be traced by the presence of N‐terminal peptide M + 42 adducts. Detailed analysis of cyclic fructose‐related compound comprising structural features of both studied groups revealed a rich fragmentation pattern derived from amino acid residues and water molecules losses from [M − 2H2O + H]+ ion. Also, some interesting differences were found with respect to the nature of carbohydrate moieties. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.