ABSTRACT
I. INTRODUCTION The science of glycobiology often requires the structural analysis of small quantities of purified materials (e.g., glycoproteins) to permit meaningful structure-function correlations. There is thus a need for highly sensitive, selective, and reproducible methods for the analysis and characterization of oligosaccharides. Methods and strategies for glycan (mono-and oligosac charide) analysis in glycobiology have been reviewed [1,2]. Historically, chromatographic methods, both gas and liquid chromatography (see [3] for review), have been widely employed. More recently, capillary electrophore sis and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis have gained in popularity for carbohydrate analysis [2].
