A quartz crystal microbalance method to study the terminal functionalization of glycosaminoglycans.

We demonstrate the quartz crystal microbalance as a novel method to quantify the reaction yields and stability of the terminal conjugation of chemically complex molecules. Oxime ligation is identified as a facile, broadly applicable method for the reducing-end conjugation of glycosaminoglycans that overcomes the limited stability and yield of popular hydrazone ligation.