title: Study on the maltooligosaccharide composition of mucilage samples collected along the northern Adriatic coast.
abstract: The mucilage phenomenon, a sporadic but massive accumulation of gelatinous material, can cause serious damage to the tourism and fishing industries along the Adriatic coast. Mucilage is presently thought to be the result of the aggregation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) into particulate organic matter (POM). Three principal classes of compounds have been identified in organic matter by spectrometric determination: carbohydrates, proteins and lipids. Carbohydrates are suspected to play a role in the first steps of DOM aggregation. Despite its importance in understanding the processes leading to mucilage formation, our present knowledge of the composition of the mucilage carbohydrate fraction is incomplete. Due to its high sensitivity and specificity, liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray-ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESIMS/MS) is gaining an increasing importance as a powerful technique for carbohydrate purification and characterization in complex samples. In this work, LC-ESIMS/MS is proposed as a useful method for the investigation of the oligosaccharide content in mucilage samples. The approach was applied using 3-7 unit maltooligosaccharides as reference compounds. The composition of the investigated mucilage sample was further investigated combining LC-ESIMS/MS with classic approaches, such as spectroscopic techniques and liquid chromatography coupled with the refractory index LC-RI.
authors.affiliation: Chemical Oceanography, University of Urbino, Loc. Crocicchia, 61029 Urbino (PU), Italy. cebiam@uniurb.it
authors.forename: Nunzio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Penna
authors.forename: Samuela
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Capellacci
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ricci
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Giorgi
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Penna
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Famiglini
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pierini
authors.forename: Helga
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Trufelli
authors.forename: Achille
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cappiello
mesh_terms: D000269:Adhesives / Q000737:chemistry*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D007558:Italy; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000737:chemistry*; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry
chemical_list: D000269:Adhesives; D009844:Oligosaccharides; C021705:maltooligosaccharides