Electrophoretic separation of sugars and hydrolysates of polysaccharides on silylated glass-fibre paper.

Abstract The suitability of silylated glass-fibre paper as a supporting material for the electrophoresis of sugars and hydrolysates of polysaccharides has been studied. Because of the absence of molecular sieving effects by the supporting material, the separation is based only on differences in the molecular charge of the samples. The method described allows the separation of low- and high-molecular-weight substances in the same run. A mixture of seven sugars was separated into single components within 45 min. To demonstrate the versatility of the method, various polysaccharide hydrolysates were separated electrophoretically. As electrophoresis is based on a different separation principle than chromatographic techniques, this method is considered to be an efficient alternative and/or complement to the chromatography of carbohydrates.