Simultaneous chromatographic separation of the anomers of saccharides on a polymer sulfobetaine zwitterionic stationary phase

Simultaneous chromatographic separation of the anomers of saccharides was achieved by using a polymer zwitterionic stationary phase functionalized by acrylamide-type sulfobetaine. By optimization of separation parameters including column temperature, pH, and flow rate, the column operated in hydrophilic interaction chromatography mode exhibited excellent separation selectivity toward five monosaccharides and their anomers (including ribose, xylose, galactose, glucose, and arabinose) and two disaccharides (lactose and maltose). Baseline separation could be achieved at mild operation conditions such as 20–30°C of column temperature or typical mobile phase composition (85% acetrontrile–15% 20 mM ammonium formate [NH 4 FA]) with wide pH tolerance range of 2–8. This offers a rapid way to determine the configuration of α or β anomer of the saccharides.