Quantitative thin-layer chromatography of carbohydrates using pentavalent vanadium in sulphuric acid : Determination of mixtures of d-Fructose, d-Glucose and sucrose

Pentavalent vanadium in sulphuric acid can be used for the quantitative analysis of sugars. The yellow pentavalent vanadium is reduced by carbohydrates to the blue tetravalent form, and either the consumption of vanadium(V) or the amount of vanadium(IV) formed can be measured. For model studies, different d-fructose-d-glucose-sucrose mixtures were used. The monosaccharides were separated from the disaccharide by thin-layer chromatography. Owing to the great difference in reactivity between aldohexoses and ketohexoses, d-fructose and d-glucose can be determined separately without prior separation. The method enables 10 μg of each sugar to be determined.