A new study reports how the identification of small sugar isomers (molecules with the same chemical formula but different arrangement of atoms) in laboratory samples using ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) might be improved. When using IM-MS alone to identify carbohydrate isomers, small differences in their collision cross sections makes it difficult to tell them apart. The reported technique increased the resolution of isomer identification for each of twelve different sugars used in the study.

Carbohydrates are a large group of compounds, which include sugars. Many of these compounds are important to biology and are considered to be among the building blocks of life as we know it. Simple sugars have been found in space, indicating that the ingredients for life’s origins might be available on worlds other than Earth. Yet, accurately identifying and studying carbohydrates in physical samples closer to home could also have numerous applications for astrobiology research on Earth and beyond. Astrobiologists have long been interested in the role that sugars play in life’s origins, habitability, and as potential biomarkers.

The study, “Rapid resolution of carbohydrate isomers via multi-site derivatization ion mobility-mass spectrometry,” was published in the journal Analyst. The work was performed at the NSF/NASA Center for Chemical Evolution (CCE) at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. The CCE is a collaborative program supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the NASA Astrobiology Program.

Additional Links:
Sugar in Space (NASA)