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Updated: Feb 12, 2026

On-chip Isotachophoresis for Separation of Ions and Purification of Nucleic Acids
Published on: March 2, 2012
Reversed phase ion-pair chromatographic separation of sugar alcohols by complexation with molybdate ion
Tomoko Kemmei1, Shuji Kodama2, Atsushi Yamamoto3
1Toyama Institute of Health, 17-1 Nakataikoyama, Imizu 939-0363, Japan.
Abstract:
In this study, we developed a simple and sensitive reversed phase ion-pair chromatographic method for the analysis of C4-C6 sugar alcohols. The method is based on the on-line complexation of sugar alcohols with molybdate ion. The resulting dinuclear anionic complexes can be separated on a reversed-phase C18 column using tetrabutylammonium chloride as an ion-pairing reagent. The mobile phase (pH 3.1) consisted of 0.1 mM disodium molybdate, 1 mM hydrochloric acid and 0.4 mM tetrabutylammonium chloride - 10% v/v methanol. By complexing with molybdate ion, sugar alcohols can be detected by their UV absorption at 247 nm with high resolution and sensitivity. The quantification limits of the examined sugar alcohols calculated at S/N = 10 were 0.1 mM for erythritol and xylitol and 0.01 mM for arabitol, sorbitol, mannitol and dulcitol. The detector response was linear over three orders of magnitude of sugar alcohol concentration. The proposed method was successfully applied to measure sugar alcohols in health drinks, eyedrops and mouthwashes.
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