Quantitative determination of several mono- and oligosaccarides in food products by means of high-pressure liquid chromatography replacement of the toxic eluent 'acetonitrile/water' by a mixture of harmless solvents

Summary The toxic eluent mixture acetonitrile/water frequently used for separation of mono- and oligosaccarides is replaced by the harmless temary mixture acetone/ethyl acetate/water. By various techniques — degassing of the eluent, parallel connection of two columns and temperature control of the columns, of the eluate and RI-detector — the method is made suitable for the determination of lower saccharide concentrations than usual. Methods for rational preparation of samples — extraction of the saccarides, deionizing of the sample solution — are suggested. Based on examples, the efficiency of the method is demonstrated.