Decomposition of sugars under non-thermal dielectric barrier discharge plasma

Solutions of ribose, glucose, and sucrose in water and phosphate buffer were treated with non-thermal plasma generated by using a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) device and the oxidation products were characterized by 1H NMR and GC-MS. Our results demonstrate that these sugars are decomposed to formic acid, glycolic acid, glyceric acid, tartronic acid, tartaric acid, acetic acid, and oxalic acid after direct exposure to DBD plasma. The concentrations of these compounds are time-dependent with plasma treatment. The decomposition mechanisms of these sugars under the DBD plasma are also proposed in this study.