Direct Oligosaccharide Profiling Using Thin-Layer Chromatography Coupled with Ionic Liquid-Stabilized Nanomatrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization Mass Spectrometry

The in-depth characterization of glycan structures is crucial to understanding their structure–function relationships and their effects on health and various diseases. Despite advances in rapid analysis, the utility of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI MS) is limited for complex mixtures of carbohydrates due to their low ionization efficiency and the difficulty in separating oligosaccharides because of their high structural similarity. In this study, we developed an ionic liquid (IL)-stabilized, nanomatrix-decorated, thin-layer chromatography (TLC)-MALDI MS method for simultaneous and rapid separation, detection, and identification of oligosaccharides to achieve efficient profiling. The IL demonstrated good dispersion and stabilization for the spin coating of dihydroxybenzoic acid-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (DHB@MNPs) on the TLC plate with spot homogeneity, which contributed to the observed high reproducibility (