Versatile metal–organic framework-functionalized magnetic graphene nanoporous composites: As deft matrix for high-effective extraction and purification of the N-linked glycans

• A novel ZIFs-functionalized magnetic carbon-graphene material was synthesized.
• The material exhibits excellent the ability to trap N-linked glycans of biosamples.
• 48 N-linked glycans from human serum treated with the material were identified.
• All results demonstrate that the material has good performance for N-linked glycans.

The highly selective enrichment of N-linked glycans from complex biological sample is still very important but challenging task due to the ultra-low abundance, complicated structures and strong ion suppress effect caused by distractors such as proteins, peptides and salts. Here, we firstly present a novel metal–organic frameworks (MOFs)-functionalized magnetic nanoporous carbon-graphene composites (C-magG@ZIF-8) synthesized through a smart process. The obtained materials enjoy the unique properties including strong magnetic responsiveness, a large sum of graphitized carbon pore, remarkable biocompatibility and large specific surface area. By virtue of these unique properties, the C-magG@ZIF-8 composites displayed excellent selectivity and sensitivity, good recyclability and incredible size exclusion ability (roughly 2000 times) in the N-linked glycans analysis. Furthermore, 48 N-linked glycans were clearly identified from the normal human serum treated with the C-magG@ZIF-8. There is reason to believe that our smart strategy offers new possibilities for preparing the MOFs-functionalized composites for large-scale characterization of glycoproteomics by mass spectrometry analysis.

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