High performance liquid chromatography of raw sugars and polyols using bonded silica gels

Summary Bonded silica columns have been evaluated for their ability to separate carbohydrates and polyols. Mobile phases consisting of dichloromethane/methanol produced the best separations in comparison with the acetonitrile/water mixtures commonly used with amino columns. Of all the bonded phases tested, LiChrospher Diol silica provided the best separations, and selectivities were not very different from those obtained on the most popular system using an amino bonded phase and acetonitrile/water as eluent. In addition, diol columns with a dichloromethane/methanol eluent offer excellent stability with no Schiffs base formation of reducing sugars. Using an evaporative light scattering detector, low limit detection is obtainable (20 ng of glucose from a column) and gradient elution is quite feasible.