Enantiomer separation of permethylated monosaccharides and 1,5-anhydroalditols and simultaneous determination of linkage positions and absolute configuration in the galactan of Helix pomatia

The enantiomers of permethylated monosaccharides and 1,5-anhydroalditols were resolved using modified cyclomaltoheptaoses and cyclomaltooctaoses (β- and λ-cyclodextrins) as chiral stationary phases in capillary GLC. This method was applied to the galactan from Helix pomatia, which contains both d- and l-galactose. The corresponding 1,5-anhydrogalactitols which were formed by reductive cleavage of the permethylated galactan could be separated, allowing the simultaneous determination of linkage position and absolute configuration of galactose residues in snail galactan.