Analytical and preparative separation of anionic oligosaccharides by weak anion-exchange high-performance liquid chromatography on an inert polymer column.

The use of ammonium formate buffers for analytical and preparative weak anion-exchange high-performance chromatography of anionic sugars is described. The method can be used for structures containing sulfate, phosphate, sialic acid, and uronic acid moieties. Excellent separation of the anionic sugars was achieved from pH 5.5 to 9. In contrast to silica matrix columns the polymer matrix column used can tolerate a wide range of pH values for the eluting buffer and it does not shed material into the eluent. The use of a single volatile buffer avoids additional purification steps to recover separated sugars suitable for further structural and functional analyses.