Abstract The combination of helium charge transfer dissociation mass spectrometry (He–CTD–MS) with ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) is presented for the analysis of a complex mixture of acidic and neutral human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs). The research focuses on the identification of the monosaccharide sequence, the branching patterns, the sialylation/fucosylation arrangements, and the differentiation of isomeric oligosaccharides in the mixture. Initial studies first optimized the conditions for the UHPLC separation and the He–CTD–MS conditions. Results demonstrate that He–CTD is compatible with UHPLC timescales and provides unambiguous glycosidic and cross-ring cleavages from both the reducing and the nonreducing ends, which is not typically possible using collision-induced dissociation. He–CTD produces informative fragments, including 0,3An and 0,4An ions, which have been observed with electron transfer dissociation, electron detachment dissociation, and ultraviolet photodissociation (UVPD) and are crucial for differentiating the α-2,3- versus α-2,6-linked sialic acid (Neu5Ac) residues present among sialyllacto-N-tetraose HMOs. In addition to the linkage positions, He–CTD is able to differentiate structural isomers for both sialyllacto-N-tetraoses and lacto-N-fucopentaoses structures by providing unique, unambiguous cross-ring cleavages of types 0,2An, 0,2Xn, and 1,5An while preserving most of the labile Neu5Ac and fucose groups.
more »
« less
Charge transfer dissociation of a branched glycan with alkali and alkaline earth metal adducts
Alkali and alkaline earth metal adducts of a branched glycan, XXXG, were analyzed with helium charge transfer dissociation (He‐CTD) and low‐energy collision‐induced dissociation (LE‐CID) to investigate if metalation would impact the type of fragments generated and the structural characterization of the analyte. The studied adducts included 1+ and 2+ precursors involving one or more of the cations: H+, Na+, K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+. Regardless of the metal adduct, He‐CTD generated abundant and numerous glycosidic and cross‐ring cleavages that were structurally informative and able to identify the 1,4‐linkage and 1,6‐branching patterns. In contrast, the LE‐CID spectra mainly contained glycosidic cleavages, consecutive fragments, and numerous neutral losses, which complicated spectral interpretation. LE‐CID of [M + K + H]2+and [M + Na]+precursors generated a few cross‐ring cleavages, but they were not sufficient to identify the 1,4‐linkage and 1,6‐branching pattern of the XXXG xyloglucan. He‐CTD predominantly generated 1+ fragments from 1+ precursors and 2+ product ions from 2+ precursors, although both LE‐CID and He‐CTD were able to generate 1+ product ions from 2+ adducts of magnesium and calcium. The singly charged fragments derive from the loss of H+from the metalated product ions and the formation of a protonated complementary product ion; such observations are similar to previous reports for magnesium and calcium salts undergoing electron capture dissociation (ECD) activation. However, during He‐CTD, the [M + Mg]2+precursor generated more singly charged product ions than [M + Ca]2+, either because Mg has a higher second ionization potential than Ca or because of conformational differences and the locations of the charging adducts during fragmentation. He‐CTD of the [M + 2Na]2+and the [M + 2 K]2+precursors generated singly charged product ions from the loss of a sodium ion and potassium ion, respectively. In summary, although the metal ions influence the mass and charge state of the observed product ions, the metal ions had a negligible effect on the types of cross‐ring cleavages observed.
more » « less- Award ID(s):
- 1710376
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10451093
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Mass Spectrometry
- Volume:
- 56
- Issue:
- 7
- ISSN:
- 1076-5174
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
more » « less
Abstract We recently reported a detailed investigation of the collision‐induced dissociation (CID) of [UO2(NO3)3]−and [UO2(NO3)2(O2)]−in a linear ion trap mass spectrometer (
J. Mass Spectrom . DOI:10.1002/jms.4705). Here, we describe the CID of [UO2(NO3)(O2)]−which is created directly by ESI, or indirectly by simple elimination of O2from [UO2(NO3)(O2)2]−. CID of [UO2(NO3)(O2)]−creates product ions as atm/z 332 andm/z 318. The former may be formed directly by elimination of O2, while the latter required decomposition of a nitrate ligand and elimination of NO2. DFT calculations identify a pathway by which both product ions can be generated, which involves initial isomerization of [UO2(NO3)(O2)]−to create [UO2(O)(NO2)(O2)]−, from which elimination of NO2or O2will leave [UO2(O)(O2)]−or [UO2(O)(NO2)]−, respectively. For the latter product ion, the composition assignment of [UO2(O)(NO2)]−rather than [UO2(NO3)]−is supported by ion‐molecule reaction behavior, and in particular, the fact that spontaneous addition of O2, which is predicted to be the dominant reaction pathway for [UO2(NO3)]−is not observed. Instead, the species reacts with H2O, which is predicted to be the favored pathway for [UO2(O)(NO2)]−. This result in particular demonstrates the utility of ion‐molecule reactions to assist the determination of ion composition. As in our earlier study, we find that ions such as [UO2(O)(NO2)]−and [UO2(O)(O2)]−form H2O adducts, and calculations suggest these species spontaneously rearrange to create dihydroxides. -
Non-covalent complexes of the short amyloid peptide motif Gly-Asn-Asn-Gln-Gln-Asn-Tyr (GNNQQNY) with peptide counterparts that were tagged with a diazirine ring at the N-termini (*GNNQQNY) were generated as singly charged ions in the gas phase. Specific laser photodissociation (UVPD) of the diazirine tag in the gas-phase complexes at 355 nm generated transient carbene intermediates that underwent covalent cross-linking with the target GNNQQNY peptide. The crosslinking yields ranged between 0.8 and 4.5%, depending on the combinations of peptide C-terminal amides and carboxylates. The covalent complexes were analyzed by collision-induced dissociation tandem mass spectrometry (CID-MS 3 ), providing distributions of cross-links at the target peptide amino acid residues. A general preference for cross-linking at the target peptide Gln-4-Gln-5-Asn-6-Tyr-7 segment was observed. Born–Oppenheimer molecular dynamics calculations were used to obtain 100 ps trajectories for nine lowest free-energy conformers identified by ωB97X-D/6-31+G(d,p) gradient geometry optimizations. The trajectories were analyzed for close contacts between the incipient carbene atom and the X–H bonds in the target peptide. The close-contact analysis pointed to the Gln-5 and Tyr-7 residues as the most likely sites of cross-linking, consistent with the experimental CID-MS 3 results. Non-covalent binding in the amide complexes was evaluated by DFT calculations of structures and energies. Although antiparallel arrangements of the GNNQQNY and *GNNQQNY peptides were favored in low-energy gas-phase and solvated complexes, the conformations and peptide–peptide interface surfaces were found to differ from the secondary structure of the dry interface in GNNQQNY motifs of amyloid aggregates.more » « less
-
null (Ed.)A guided-ion beam tandem mass spectrometric study was performed on collision-induced dissociation (CID) of a protonated 9-methylguanine–1-methylcytosine Watson–Crick base pair (designated as WC-[9MG·1MC + H] + ), from which dissociation pathways and dissociation energies were determined. Electronic structure calculations at the DFT, RI-MP2 and DLPNO-CCSD(T) levels of theory were used to identify product structures and delineate reaction mechanisms. Intra-base-pair proton transfer (PT) of WC-[9MG·1MC + H] + results in conventional base-pair conformations that consist of hydrogen-bonded [9MG + H] + and 1MC and proton-transferred conformations that are formed by PT from the N1 of [9MG + H] + to the N3′ of 1MC. Two types of conformers were distinguished by CID in which the conventional conformers produced [9MG + H] + product ions whereas the proton-transferred conformers produced [1MC + H] + . The conventional conformers have a higher population (99.8%) and lower dissociation energy than the proton-transferred counterparts. However, in contrast to what was expected from the statistical dissociation of the equilibrium base-pair conformational ensemble, the CID product ions of WC-[9MG·1MC + H] + were dominated by [1MC + H] + rather than [9MG + H] + . This finding, alongside the non-statistical CID reported for deprotonated guanine–cytosine (Lu et al. ; PCCP , 2016, 18 , 32222) and guanine–cytosine radical cation (Sun et al. ; PCCP , 2020, 22 , 14875), reinforces that non-statistical dissociation is a distinctive feature of singly-charged Watson–Crick guanine–cytosine base pairs. It implies that intra-base-pair PT facilitates the formation of proton-transferred conformers in these systems and the ensuing conformers have loose transition states for dissociation. The monohydrate of WC-[9MG·1MC + H] + preserves non-statistical CID kinetics and introduces collision-induced methanol elimination via the reaction of the water ligand with a methyl group.more » « less
-
more » « less
Abstract Electrospray ionization (ESI) can produce a wide range of gas‐phase uranyl (UO22+) complexes for tandem mass spectrometry studies of intrinsic structure and reactivity. We describe here the formation and collision‐induced dissociation (CID) of [UO2(NO3)3]−and [UO2(NO3)2(O2)]−. Multiple‐stage CID experiments reveal that the complexes dissociate in reactions that involve elimination of O2, NO2, or NO3, and subsequent reactions of interesting uranyl‐oxo product ions with (neutral) H2O and/or O2were investigated. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reproduce experimental results and show that dissociation of nitrate ligands, with ejection of neutral NO2, is favored for both [UO2(NO3)3]−and [UO2(NO3)2(O2)]−. DFT calculations also suggest that H2O adducts to products such as [UO2(O)(NO3)]−spontaneously rearrange to create dihydroxides and that addition of O2is favored over addition of H2O to formally U(V) species.
