Analysis of hexosaminitol-containing disaccharide alditols from rat brain glycoproteins and gangliosides as O-trimethylsilyl derivatives by gas chromatography mass spectrometry.

The O-trimethylsilyl derivatives of five reference disaccharide alditols composed of a N-acetylhexosaminitol substituted at C-3, C-4 or C-6 with a hexose moiety were studied by gas chromatography mass spectrometry. The data were used in the determination of the linkage in disaccharide alditols derived from rat brain glycoproteins and gangliosides. The O-glycosidically linked carbohydrate units of brain glycoproteins contained two oligosaccharides, alpha-galactosyl-(1 leads to 3)-N-acetylgalactosaminitol and beta-galactosyl-(1 leads to 3)-N-acetylgalactosaminitol, whereas only the latter was obtained from brain gangliosides after partial acid hydrolysis and reduction.