Analysis of oligosaccharide and sugar alcohol by pyrolysis GC/MS

Saccharide and sugar alcohol were analyzed by pyrolysis GC/MS. In this expe riment, an excess of tetramethylammonium hydroxide was added to saccharide and a sugar alcohol solution. Reducing sugar was different from sugar alcoh ol and nonreducing sugar in the analysis results. Sugar alcohol was derivat ived without pyrolysis. D-glucitol, D-mannitol, and galactitol were analyze d simultaneously with the pyrolyzer temperature at 150 degrees C. Other sug ar alcohol and nonreducing sugar, such as sucrose, were methylated without pyrolysis in the pyrolyzer. Meanwhile, some products were detected by methy lation with pyrolysis from monosaccharide, such as D-glucose. Some products were detected by decomposition of the reducing sugar residue from a reduci ng oligosaccharide, such as maltose. This method enabled an analysis of con stituent monosaccharides by pyrolysis in a pyrolyzer for reducing oligosacc haride samples, and methylation in a pyrolyzer for nonreducing sugar and su gar alcohol samples.