2014 Volume 35 Issue 2 Pages 63-72
High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) has great contribution in the analysis of the carbohydrates. Various separation modes such as ion exchange chromatography, size exclusion chromatography and partition chromatography have been applied to HPLC of mono- and oligosaccharides. Among them, partition chromatography with a polar stationary phase and aqueous mobile phase, called aqueous normal phase partition (ANP) chromatography, has been used in various fields, and is widely used for the separation of reducing sugars. Currently, this separation mode is considered to be a type of "hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC)". As the use of HILIC mode increases, many novel stationary phases being available for the separation of reducing sugars have been developed. This article focuses on the separation of reducing sugars by ANP (HILIC) mode, and summarizes the traditional and/or recent stationary phases for the separation of reducing sugars. The applicability of various kinds of stationary phases to solid-phase extraction (SPE) of saccharides is also described.
