Uncomplicated Determination of Carbohydrates Using Electrochemical Detection

Because of their great importance in the field of ecological, biological, clinical and nutritional research, the determination of sugars and other carbohydrates is of great interest. Carbohydrates can react electrochemically and thus can be detected very sensitively and selectively by amperometry, one of the most sensitive detection methods in quantitative analysis.

After separation of sugars by high-performance anion exchange chromatography (HPAEC), pulsed amperometric detection (PAD) is used in the KNAUER sugar analysis chromatography system, a variant that enables rapid measurement in a small cell, including regeneration of the electrode, which is required in sugar detection.

PAD involves a cycle of measurement, desorption and regeneration of the electrode, taking only half a second and constantly repeated during the analysis. Thus, as with other flow detectors, a chromatogram can be recorded and sugars determined with a very high signal-to-noise ratio. Unlike methods involving spectroscopy, PAD does not require additional chemicals except for the freshly prepared aqueous basic eluent. The easy-to-use method with different NaOH concentrations is suitable for simple and reproducible analysis even at low analyte concentrations.

This application is suitable for different areas in which carbohydrates must be specifically separated and analyzed, such as in research for renewable raw materials and fuels, in which sugars from wood and plant waste play an important role.