Recent advances in ion mobility–mass spectrometry for improved structural characterization of glycans and glycoconjugates

Glycansand glycoconjugatesare involved in regulating a vast array of cellular and molecular processes. Despite the importance of glycansin biology and disease, characterization of glycansremains difficult due to their structural complexityand diversity. Mass spectrometry (MS)-based techniques have emerged as the premier analytical tools for characterizing glycans. However, traditional MS-based strategies struggle to distinguish the large number of coexisting isomeric glycansthat are indistinguishable by mass alone. Because of this, ion mobility spectrometrycoupled to MS (IM–MS) has received considerable attention as an analytical tool for improving glycancharacterization due to the capability of IM to resolve isomeric glycansbefore MS measurements. In this review, we present recent improvements in IM–MS instrumentation and methods for the structural characterization of isomeric glycans. In addition, we highlight recent applications of IM–MS that illustrate the enormous potential of this technology in a variety of research areas, including glycomics, glycoproteomics, and glycobiology.