Chromatography of mono- and disaccharides on granulated pellets of hydrophobic zeolites

The chromatographic response of sugars at granulated zeolite pellets in preparative scale liquid chromatography is analyzed with respect to the distribution equilibrium and mass transfer. In contrast to hydrophilic FAU type zeolites their hydrophobic dealuminated counterpart, used here, can separate disaccharides the retention of which can strongly exceed those of the monosugars. The retention is correlated with data of batch adsorption studies from the literature. Whereas the retention decreases with increasing temperature, the peak sharpness shows the opposite trend. The effective mass resistance is calculated for a series of mono- and disaccharides. It increases with the capacity factor. The diffusion coefficient of the trehalulose disaccharide is restricted by a factor of about 2 in the macropores and by a factor of more than 10⁴ in the micropores.