Abstract: The present invention provides compounds which are useful as multifunctional labels in proteomics studies. The labels of the present invention are both lysine specific and increase the overall sequence coverage obtained in polypeptide mapping experiments, by for example, increasing the ionization efficiencies of lysine-terminated tryptic fragments. In certain aspects, the labels of the present invention can be used to measure differential quantitation, as for example, deuterium(s) can easily be introduced during their synthesis. In one aspect, a C-terminal derivatized lysine biases the fragment ion intensities strongly toward C-terminal fragment ions, resulting in a highly simplified tandem mass spectrum. In further aspects, the number of lysine residues can be determined in a polypeptide.

Abstract: The present invention provides compounds which are useful as multifunctional labels in proteomics studies. The labels of the present invention are both lysine specific and increase the overall sequence coverage obtained in polypeptide mapping experiments, by for example, increasing the ionization efficiencies of lysine-terminated tryptic fragments. In certain aspects, the labels of the present invention can be used to measure differential quantitation, as for example, deuterium(s) can easily be introduced during their synthesis. In one aspect, a C-terminal derivatized lysine biases the fragment ion intensities strongly toward C-terminal fragment ions, resulting in a highly simplified tandem mass spectrum. In further aspects, the number of lysine residues can be determined in a polypeptide.