Monosaccharide Analysis by Capillary Electrophoresis

In carbohydrate analysis efficient separation is indispensable, because a sample is usually accompanied by analogous compoundshaving very similar structures and properties. All carbohydrates contain hydroxyl group and most of them in addition havea characteristic functional group, such as the hemiacetal (aldoses), keto (ketoses), and carboxyl (aldonic and saccharic acids)groups. There are also compounds having two or more of such functional groups (e.g., uronic acids having the hemiacetal andcarboxyl groups; sialic acids having the keto and carboxyl groups). Alditols are exceptional in having no such functionalgroups. In deoxy sugars a part of the hydroxyl group is eliminated, and in amino sugars, aminocyclitols, muramic acid, andsialic acids, it is substituted by the amino or acylamino group. Each of the aforementioned groups comprises homologues havingdifferent numbers of carbon atoms. The homologues composed of carbon atoms more than five have ring structures and have variousepimers based on configurational differences. Thus, the number of possible monosaccharide species will reach almost an astronomicalfigure.