Simultaneous determination of carbohydrates and products of carbohydrate metabolism in fermentation mixtures by HPLC.

An improved procedure for separating and quantitating carbohydrates, alcohols, and organic acids in fermentation mixtures metabolized by intestinal microflora is described. The high-pressure liquid chromatographic method is efficient, reproducible, and sensitive. A column packed with cation-exchange resin in the hydrogen form, eluted isocratically with 0.028 M H2SO4 at 40 degrees C separates the compounds of interest. The eluate is monitored with ultraviolet and refractive index detectors in series. On-line acquistion and storage of detector output by a computer allows post-analysis data manipulation and quantitation. Using this method, the metabolic profiles for the fermentation of glucose, fructose, lactose, and sucrose by several intestinal microorganisms are characterized and compared.