Modern mass spectrometry, including electrospray and MALDI, is applied for analysis and structure elucidation of carbohydrates. Cyclic oligosaccharides isolated from different sources (bacteria and plants) have been known for decades and some of them (cyclodextrins and their derivatives) are widely used in drug design, as food additives, in the construction of nanomaterials, etc. The peculiarities of the first- and second-order mass spectra of cyclic oligosaccharides (natural, synthetic and their derivatives and modifications: cyclodextrins, cycloglucans, cyclofructans, cyclooligoglucosamines, etc.) are discussed in this minireview.
Keywords: collision induced dissociation; cyclodextrins; cyclofructans; cycloglycans; cyclolaminarinoses; cyclooligoglucosamines; cyclooligosaccharides; cyclosophoraoses; electrospray ionization; fragmentation; laser-induced desorption/ionization; macrocycles; matrix-assisted; structure elucidation; tandem mass spectrometry.