Enantioresolution and quantification of monosaccharides by comprehensive two‐dimensional gas chromatography

- A new improved method for the enantioseparation of aldopentoses is proposed.
- Method validation shows extremely low detection limits of 0.5 pmol on the column.
- Enantiomers of d,l-arabinose, d,l-ribose, d,l-xylose, and d,l-lyxose were resolved.
- Produced chromatograms show excellent peak resolution and minimal co-elution.

This work presents the development of a simple and efficient analytical protocol for the direct enantioselective resolution of sugars. A racemic mixture of the C3 sugar d,l-glyceraldehyde and the C5 monosaccharides d,l-arabinose, d,l-ribose, d,l-xylose, and d,l-lyxose was subjected to derivatization with trifluoroacetic anhydride, and corresponding derivatives were separated on a β‐cyclodextrin column with excellent resolution factors. Even though each aldopentose shows beside the linear form four predominant cyclic hemiacetals being the α- and β-furanose along with the α- and β‐pyranose, we show that the overall enantiomeric excess of each compound can be precisely determined. Moreover, the measured detection limit for derivatized aldopentoses ranges from 0.015 to 0.019 pmol on the column, while the quantification limit varies from 0.5 to 0.64 pmol on the column.