Preparation of ordered mesoporous carbon material based on poly-dopamine and its application in selective enrichment of N-linked glycans

Protein glycosylation has been demonstrated to be associated with numerous diseases. Taking into consideration of low abundance of N-linked glycans, the pretreatment of a biological sample is a key problem. In this study, a highly ordered mesoporous carbon material was prepared using SBA-15 as a hard template and poly-dopamine as a carbon source. The material showed ordered mesoporous structure, high specific area (1223 m2 g−1) with a pore size of 2.67 nm, high selectivity for glycans from glycoprotein, and good chemical inertness and mechanical strength. Based on the specific interaction between the carbon material and glycans and the size-exclusive mechanism, 25 N-linked glycans from OVA digest were efficiently captured. In addition, 30 N-linked glycans were selectively captured from human serum, which indicated that the prepared material is a promising tool in protein glycosylation research.