New evidences on efficacy of boronic acid-based derivatization method to identify sugars in plant material by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

• Simple derivatization of aldose and chetose without intermediate drying or steps.
• Each carbohydrate gives a single peak.
• Inorganic ions not detrimental to the derivatization efficiency.

This work presents an analytical procedure based on gas chromatography–mass spectrometry which allows the determination of aldoses (glucose, mannose, galactose, arabinose, xylose, fucose, rhamnose) and chetoses (fructose) in plant material.One peak for each target carbohydrate was obtained by using an efficient derivatization employing methylboronic acid and acetic anhydride sequentially, whereas the baseline separation of the analytes was accomplished using an ionic liquid capillary column. First, the proposed method was optimized and validated. Successively, it was applied to identify the carbohydrates present in plant material. Finally, the procedure was successfully applied to samples from a XVII century painting, thus highlighting the occurrence of starch glue and fruit tree gum as polysaccharide materials.

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