Thiol-ene click synthesis of L-Cysteine-bonded zwitterionic hydrophilic magnetic nanoparticles for selective and efficient enrichment of glycopeptides

•Novel magnetic zwitterionic hydrophilic nanoparticles based on thiol-ene click chemistry were synthesized.•The prepared magnetic nanoparticles exhibited superior performance in glycopeptide enrichment.•The material was successfully applied to glycopeptide enrichment in complex biological samples.

Efficient and specific enrichment of low-abundant glycopeptides from complex biological samples is essential to glycoproteomics analysis. Herein, novel magnetic zwitterionic hydrophilic nanoparticles based on thiol-ene click chemistry were synthesized. The functionalized magnetic nanoparticles exhibited superior performance in glycopeptide enrichment of HRP tryptic digest, demonstrating low detection limit (0.04 ng/μL), high selectivity (a mixture of HRP and BSA at the mass ratio of 1:50) and reproducibility (5 repeating cycles). In addition, the material was successfully applied to glycopeptide enrichment from human serum. The outstanding results indicate the potential of the method in the development of glycoproteomics analysis in real biological samples.

Graphical abstractNovel magnetic zwitterionic hydrophilic nanoparticles based on thiol-ene click chemistry were synthesized to highly selective and efficient enrichment of glycopeptides from complex biological samples.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide