Discrimination between pentose oligosaccharides containing D-xylopyranose or L-arabinofuranose as non-reducing terminal residue using fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry

Collisional-induced dissociation (CID) mass spectra of the [M + H](+) and [M - H](-) ions obtained under fast atom bombardment conditions of a number of methyl glycoside di-, tri- and tetrasaccharides, containing D-xylopyranosyl and/or L-arabinofuranosyl residues at the non-reducing terminus, do not provide information about their ring size. This information could only be obtained from a careful comparison of the intensity ratio of the [M + Na - 90](+) and [M + Na - 104](+) ions (X-0,2(t)/X-1,5(t)) in the high-energy CID spectra of the sodium-cationized di-, tri- and probably also tetrasaccharide compounds. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.