Monosaccharides belong to the most abundant group of biomolecules in nature. They play a crucial role in metabolism, structural biology, and storage of energy. Thus, the analysis of these special type of carbohydrates is of great interest for the food industry but also for a broad range of life and material sciences. The presence of hydroxyl groups enables a specific and highly sensitive analysis using pulsed amperometric detection (PAD) with the DECADE Elite electrochemical detector as part of the dedicated AZURA® High Performance Anion Exchange Chromatography (HPAEC) system.
The sources for the different kinds of monosaccharides can vary between food samples like honey [1] or fruits, to scientific applications like glycopeptides or they can be products of fermentation processes like the here analysed wood monosaccharides. The mixture of the seven hemicellulosic sugars fucose, rhamnose, arabinose, galactose, glucose, xylose and mannose mixed with the two uronic acids galacturonic acid and glucuronic acid, extracted from wood by heat or chemical pretreatment, are of special interest in the research for new biofuels. They are considered to be more sustainable and are expected to become a competitive commercial alternative to fuel made from corn and other food sources [2]. Carbohydrates are week acids with pKa values between 12 and 14. Consequently, they can be completely or partially ionized under basic conditions with pH >12. Due to these harsh conditions, only polymeric anion exchange columns are suitable for the monosaccharide analysis. The retention time with AZURA HPAEC is inversely correlated with pKa value and increases significantly with molecular weight of the monosaccharide.
>> Download the Full Application Note as a PDF
Newsletters
Receive the latest analytical scientist news, personalities, education, and career development – weekly to your inbox.
