IDENTIFICATION OF MONOSACCHARIDES AND RELATED-COMPOUNDS BY GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY FOURIER-TRANSFORM INFRARED-SPECTROSCOPY OF THEIR TRIMETHYLSILYL ETHERS

Trimethylsilyl (TMS) ethers are widely used in gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) for the identificati on of carbohydrates; this work shows that gas chromatography-Fourier t ransform infrared spectroscopy (GC-FT-IR) can also be used, with some advantages, for this purpose. A selection of 42 monosaccharides and re lated compounds were examined and in each case unique spectra were obt ained for the differing compounds and their isomeric forms, allowing u nambiguous identification. No relationship between the observed spectr a and anomer form was seen. There was a statistically significant diff erence in the intensity of the peak at 1108 +/- 25 cm(-1) distinguishi ng the furanose and pyranose conformers.