Isocratic separations of closely-related mono- and disaccharides by high-performance anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection using dilute alkaline spiked with barium acetate

Abstract

Mixtures of closely related mono- and disaccharides may be efficiently separated by high-performance anion-exchange chromatography (HPAEC) only when relatively dilute alkaline eluents are employed (i.e., <20 m M NaOH). The main drawbacks of these eluent solutions are (i) column regeneration between runs, (ii) poor reproducibility of the retention times, and (iii) the need for post-column base addition for enhancing sensitivity. Here, we describe some examples of isocratic separations of carbohydrates by HPAEC coupled with pulsed amperometric detection (PAD) accomplished by carbonate-free alkaline eluents (i.e., 5–20 m M NaOH) obtained upon addition of Ba(OAc) 2 (1–2 m M). These separations include aldohexoses (i.e., galactose, glucose, and mannose), aminohexoses (i.e., glucosamine and galactosamine) and their N-acylated derivatives (i.e., N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetylgalactosamine) along with some isomeric disaccharides (i.e., lactose, lactulose and epilactose). The separation of closely related isomers of trehalose, α,α, α,β, and β,β, is also presented. It is recommended to add Ba(OAc) 2 to NaOH solutions several hours before using the alkaline eluent (i.e., 12–24 h) to ensure complete barium carbonate precipitation in the eluent reservoir. Adopting such a simple strategy can be especially useful for performing carbohydrate separations under isocratic conditions in which no regeneration and or re-equilibration of column between runs is required. Excellent repeatability of retention data throughout a three-day working session was observed, with relative standard deviations ranging from 2.0 to 3.7%, and from 0.5 to 2.0%, as day-to-day and within-day values, respectively. In addition, there was no need for postcolumn addition of strong bases to the eluent, and successful applications of the present approach confirmed its validity and practicability with detection limits of simple carbohydrates in the picomole range.