Method for Determining Carbohydrates Structure

Simple SummaryContent extracted from patent full text and abstract with AI.

This patent discloses a novel method for determining the detailed structure of unknown carbohydrates using ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) in negative ionization mode. The method analyzes samples by measuring both their mass-to-charge ratio and collision cross section, and compares these results with a database containing known carbohydrate structures and their fragmentation patterns, enabling rapid, low-sample, and highly specific identification—down to differences in linkage and stereochemistry—of complex carbohydrates, including isomers.

Use CasesContent extracted from patent full text and abstract with AI.

• Analysis of naturally occurring carbohydrates in biological or food samples to determine their exact structure.
• Quality control in pharmaceutical and biotechnology manufacturing where precise glycan structure impacts efficacy or safety (e.g., monoclonal antibodies).
• Authentication of food products or supplements by carbohydrate composition analysis.
• Academic and industrial research in glycomics for mapping or characterizing glycans in various organisms.
• Detection and quantification of carbohydrate-based biomarkers for disease diagnostics.
• Forensic or environmental testing to identify carbohydrate-based substances or contaminants.

BenefitsContent extracted from patent full text and abstract with AI.

• Allows rapid and high-resolution determination of carbohydrate structures, including isomer and anomer differentiation, which are difficult with traditional mass spectrometry or NMR methods.
• Requires only minimal sample amounts, making it suitable for scarce or expensive samples.
• Enables identification and quantification even in mixtures of isobaric (identical mass) carbohydrates.
• Can determine not just composition but also connectivity (regioisomers) and stereochemistry (anomers) of glycosidic bonds.
• Database-driven approach supports continuous knowledge expansion and automation of analysis.
• Applicable to both synthetic and natural carbohydrates, with/without molecular linkers.
• Sensitive enough to detect minor components at concentrations as low as 0.1%.

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Patent Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for determining in an expedient manner and with minimal sample consumption the structure of an unknown carbohydrate by using ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) in negative ionization mode and fragmentation and a database containing structures of carbohydrates and/or of the fragments of the negative ions of carbohydrates, andfor each of the structures of the target carbohydrates the collision cross section value and the mass-to-charge ratio value of the negative ion thereof, and for each of the structures of the fragments of the negative ions of the target carbohydrates the collision cross section value and the mass-to-charge ratio value of the fragment of the negative ion of the target carbohydrate.