Studies on a microchemical method for the determination of the degree of polymerization of neutral oligo- and polysaccharides. I. Quantitative separation of trace amounts of alditols from mixtures with a large excess of monosaccharides.

A method has been devised for the quantitative separation of trace amounts of alditols from mixtures with large amounts of monosaccharides, using a strongly basic ion-exchange resin. Ten kinds of common reducing monosaccharides used were strongly retained by a very basic anion-exchange resin in the hydroxyl form, whereas the corresponding alditols showed no significant affinity for the basic resin. Model studies showed excellent recoveries of alditol from known mixtures of alditol and the corresponding aldose at ratios in the range from 1 : 1X10(3) TO 1 : 1X10(4) (by weight). Application of this procedure to dextrans after reduction and hydrolysis resulted in quantitative separation of the terminal alditol.