Capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry of carbohydrates.

The development of methods for capillary electrophoresis (CE) with on-line mass spectrometric detection (CE/MS) is driven by the need for accurate, robust, and sensitive glycomics analysis for basic biomedicine, biomarker discovery, and analysis of recombinant protein therapeutics. One important capability is to profile glycan mixtures with respect to the patterns of substituents including sialic acids, acetate, sulfate, phosphate, and other groups. There is additional need for an MS-compatible separation system capable of resolving carbohydrate isomers. This chapter summarizes applications of CS/MS to analysis of carbohydrates, glycoproteins, and glycopeptides that have appeared since 2008. Readers are referred to recent comprehensive reviews covering earlier publications.