Separation properties of saccharides on a hydrophilic stationary phase having hydration layer formed zwitterionic copolymer

• The water-holding adsorbent bonded with a zwitterionic polymer was used for the LC separation of saccharides.
• The adsorbent could recognize anomer, epimer, configuration, number of OH group of saccharides.
• The adsorbent could separate oligosaccharides with gradient elution method.

A novel water-holding adsorbent bonded with a zwitterionic polymer, diallylamine–maleic acid copolymer, was developed. With this adsorbent, hydrophilic solutes are partitioned by a hydration layer that forms on the zwitterions, as a main separating force. When the adsorbent was used to separate saccharides by normal-phase partition chromatography, the saccharides eluted in the order, mono-, di- and trisaccharide. The elution profile for mono- and di-saccharides was similar but not identical to that on anion exchange columns. This indicated that the adsorbent exhibited a complex retention behavior by the existence of both anion and cation exchange moieties in the functional polymer. Selecting Na+ as a counter-ion of the maleate moiety enhanced the retention of saccharide. When used in an high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system with gradient elution, the adsorbent enabled the simultaneous analysis of mono-, di- and oligosaccharides.

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