Capillary zone electrophoretic analysis of carbohydrates by direct and indirect UV detection

Summary The analysis of carbohydrates has been always hampered by their lack of UV absorbance above 200 nm, which is an especially challenging problem in capillary electrophoresis due to the very small (nl) sample volumes injected. The introduction of 2-aminopyridine as derivatizing agent allows sensitive direct UV detection of saccharides in the fmol range. However, due to the requirement of the presence of a free aldehyde group only aldoses and uronic acids can be determined. This limitation was recently overcome by means of precolumn derivatization withp-aminobenzoic acid or ethylp-aminobenzoate, which permits the analysis of fructose with a lower mass detection limit of 0.3 and 0.14 pmol, respectively. The detection limits for aldoses were even as low as 15 and 7 fmol. A more universal approach is the use of indirect UV detection, which permits the analysis of carbohydrates, including (1–2)-linked disaccharides and aldonic acids, at the lower pmol level without the need for derivatization.Dedicated to Professor Leslie S. Ettre on the occasion of his 70th birthday.