<p>To identify sialic acid binding proteins from complex proteomes, three photocrosslinking affinity-based probes were constructed using Neu5Ac (<b>5 </b>and <b>6</b>) and Neu5Ac2en (<b>7</b>) scaffolds. Kinetic inhibition assays and Western blotting revealed the Neu5Ac2en-based <b>7 </b>to be an effective probe for the labeling of a purified gut microbial sialidase (BDI_2946) and a purified human sialic acid binding protein (hCD33). Additionally, LC-MS/MS affinity-based protein profiling verified the ability of <b>7</b>to enrich a low-abundance sialic acid binding protein (complement factor H) from human serum thus validating the utility of this probe in a complex context.</p>