Abstract
Gas chromatography of the mixture of sorbitol and various O-methylsorbitols prepared from partially O-methylated cellulose by acid hydrolysis followed by reduction with NaBH4, was carried out on OV-7 column by the linear temperature-programmed method after the mixture being converted to trifluoroacetyl (TFA), acetyl (Ac) and trimethylsilyl (TMS) derivatives. The Kováts retention indices were determined as well as retention times and retention temperatures for TFA, Ac and TMS derivatives of the eight components, which were sorbitol and seven kinds of O-methyl-sorbitols in the mixture.
The correlation between the chemical structures and the retention indices for each derivative of the eight components was studied on an assumption of the additive contribution of each structural unit to the retention index. It was concluded that the chemical structures had the intimate relation to the retention indices for the three kinds of derivatives of various O-methylsorbitols.
