Analysis of Reducing Carbohydrates by Reductive Tryptamine Derivatization Prior to Micellar Electrokinetic Capillary Chromatography

A micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography method for determination of low molecular weight carbohydrates (dp 1-2) with an unbound carbonyl group as in aldoses or other reducing carbohydrates has been developed. Reductive amination of aldoses on the carbonyl group using tryptamine introduced a chromophor system to the carbohydrates enabling their sensitive UV detection at 220 nm and identification based on the indole group using diode array detection. Twelve carbohydrates including pentoses (d-ribose, l-arabinose, and d-xylose), hexoses (d-glucose, d-mannose, and d-galactose), deoxy sugars (l-rhamnose and l-fucose), uronic acids (d-glucuronic acid and d-galacturonic acid), and disaccharides (cellobiose and melibiose) are included in the study, using d-thyminose (2-deoxy-d-ribose) as the internal standard. Detection of all 12 carbohydrates is performed within 30 min. Linearity with correlation coefficients from 0.9864 to 0.9992 was found in the concentration range of 25-2500 micromol/L for all carbohydrates; the relative standard deviation on the migration times was between 0.27 and 0.80 min, and limits of quantification and limits of determination were in the picomole range.