ARS | Publication request: Enumeration of sugars and sugar alcohols hydroxyl groups by aqueous-based acetylation and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry

Submitted to: Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: March 13, 2012
Publication Date: April 20, 2012
Citation: Adeuya, A., Price, N.P. 2012. Enumeration of hydroxyl groups of sugars and sugar alcohols by aqueous-based acetylation and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry. 26:1372-1376. DOI: 10.1002/rcm.6234.

Interpretive Summary: Carbohydrates and polyols are commercially valuable as sweeteners, gums, and thickening agents but are currently difficult to analyze. A novel method is described to enumerate the characteristic number of hydroxyl groups on sugars. The sugars acetates formed are distinguished by their unique masses using instrumental analysis. The resulting method will be valuable to researchers in the field and the sugar and food industries.

Technical Abstract: A method is described for enumerating hydroxyl groups on analytes in aqueous media is described, and applied to some common polyalcohols (erythritol, mannitol, and xylitol) and selected carbohydrates. The analytes were derivatized in water with vinyl acetate in presence of sodium phosphate buffer. The resulting product mixtures analyzed without chromatographic separation or purification by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. The mass spectra revealed consecutive peaks that are separated by 42 mass units as a consequence of displacement of one hydroxyl group by one acetate group. The number of observed peaks was used to confirm the number of hydroxyl groups in each analyte. The method is applied to both single and multi-component mixture.