New Stationary Phase for High-Resolution Separation of all Classes of Carbohydrates in F&B

High Performance Anion-Exchange Chromatography (HPAEC) is the most powerful analytical technique for carbohydrate analysis due to its ability to separate all classes of carbohydatraes, including alditols (polyols), aminosugars, mono-, oligo- and polysaccharides, according to structural features such as size, composition, anomericity and linkage isomerism.

We developed a novel pellicular anion-exchange stationary phase called SweetSep AEX. The phase is based on highly uniform monodisperse 5 μm resin particles of crosslinked poly(divinylbenzene-co-ethylvinylbenzene) copolymer. The particles are furthermore coated with functionalized nanoparticles, carrying the anion-exchanger groups. [1]

The resin particles packed in inert PEEK HPLC columns result in exceptional column efficiencies with typical reduced plate height close to 2.0 with only moderate column back pressure. SweetSep AEX columns allow for rapid, high-resolution separations of carbohydrates. The size and exchange capacity of the latex nanoparticles were optimized to enable the analysis of a wide variety of carbohydrates samples in complex mixtures ranging from monosaccharides present in food, plants, and glycoproteins up to oligosaccharides such as FOS (fructo-oligosaccharides) and N-linked glycans.

Examples will be presented using HPAEC-PAD for the ultra-sensitive analysis of oligo- and polysaccharides as fraud markers in honey. In other examples new limits in the separation of oligosaccharides with a degree of polymerization (DP) up to 90 will be shown for superior analysis of fructans. Finally, the analysis of lactose and its isomers in lactose free labelled products [2] as well as the analysis of carbohydrates in different beer brands will be discussed.