A comparison of liquid chromatography, capillary electrophoresis, and mass spectrometry methods to determine xyloglucan structures in black currants

Different separation (HPAEC, RP–HPLC, CE) and identification (MALDI–TOF–MS, ESI–MSn) techniques were compared to analyse oligosaccharides obtained after incubation of xyloglucan with endo-glucanase. It was possible to analyse xyloglucan oligosaccharides with each technique. Several techniques, including off line (HPAEC–MALDI–TOF–MS) or online (CE–ESI–MSn, RP–HPLC–ESI–MSn) connection provided complementary information on xyloglucan structure. Online CE–MS and RP–HPLC–MS are described for the first time in xyloglucan analysis. Advantages and disadvantages of the techniques for different purposes such as structural characterisation of oligosaccharides or oligosaccharide profiling are discussed. Black currant xyloglucans had a rather simple XXXG-type structure with galactose and fucose containing side chains.