Analysis of mono- and oligosaccharides by multiwavelength surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectroscopy

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectra of different saccharides were collected using a home-made multiwavelength SPR apparatus. Pentoses, hexoses, disaccharides and a trisaccharide were distinguished from one another according to their SPR spectra collected at the same concentration. The spectra were also used for the quantitation of sugars by exploring the linear relationship between resonance wavelength and solute concentration. The dynamic linear ranges for the determination of glucose, sucrose and raffinose are 0.01-0.2, 0.005-0.1 and 0.0025-0.1 mol/L, respectively. The SPR spectrum of a mixture of two components was investigated. While the experiments have not been carried out, the implications from this work are that the technique would be applicable to mixtures containing more than two components.