Determination of carbohydrates as their p-sulfophenylhydrazones by capillary zone electrophoresis Original Research Article

p-Hydrazinobenzenesulfonic acid was explored as an ultraviolet labeling reagent for capillary electrophoresis of mono-, di- and trisaccharides. The labeling reaction that produces p-sulfophenylhydrazines took less than 8 min, and introduced both chromphore and charged groups into the carbohydrate molecules. The derivatives of nine mono- and disaccharides were completely separated in 9 min using a 100 mM borate buffer at pH 10.24. On-column UV detection at 200 nm allowed the detection of glucose with a mass detection limit of 17.6 fmol or a concentration limit of 3.6 μM. Reproducible quantification of carbohydrates was achieved in the concentration range of 0.1–9.1 mM in reaction solution. The method was applied successfully to determine the monosaccharide composition of laminaran.