Detection of alginate oligosaccharides from mollusks.

We attempted in this study to detect alginate oligosaccharides (AO) from mollusks. The samples used were digestive organs taken from turban shells and abalones which commonly ate brown algae. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and negative-ion electrospray ionization (ESI) quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) analyses were used to confirm the presence of AO. Samples spiked with AO resulted in observable peaks where the HPLC area was increased. The highest content was estimated to be 401.8 mg/100 g of digestive organ. The product-ion data derived from AO molecular weight were detected at a constant interval by Q-TOF MS/MS analysis. These findings indicate that AO was present in the digestive organs of mollusks.