Characterisation of mono- and di-saccharides and degradation products using tandem mass spectrometry

Small saccharides, e.g. lactose is one of the most common excipients in drug formulations today. Toxicology and safety aspects of excipients are extensivly studied. However, structural characterisation of impurities and degradation products from these compounds tradionally have had a much lower focus.

Tandem mass spectrometry is an important technique in the pharmaceutical industry for qualitative and quantitative analysis. In structural elucidation each fragment ion is assigned to a specific part of the unknown. With accurate mass determination from TOF mass spectrometers, each daughter fragments can be given an elemental composition. With IT MSn mass spectrometers, the internal relationships between fragment ions and fragmentation pathways can be studied.

This project will focus on using various tandem mass spectrometry techniques to characterise mono and di-saccharides and their degradation products.

The practical work will cover:
· Generation of degradation products form mono- and di-saccharides with forced conditions
· Separation of different mono- and disaccharides and their degradation products
· Characterisation of degradation products using MS and MS/MS on TOF and IT MSn mass spectrometers with suitable ionization techniques
· Establishing fragmentation pathways and indicative fragments experimentally as well as from litterature


For questions or more extensive description contact:
Bengt Axelsson at +46 (0)46 33 61 83