Identification of monosaccharides and related compounds by gas chromatography Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy of their trimethylsilyl ethers

Trimethylsilyl (TMS) ethers are widely used in gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) for the identification of carbohydrates; this work shows that gas chromatography-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (GC-FT-IR) can also be used, with some advantages, for this purpose. A selection of 42 monosaccharides and related compounds were examined and in each case unique spectra were obtained for the differing compounds and their isomeric forms, allowing unambiguous identification. No relationship between the observed spectra and anomer form was seen. There was a statistically significant difference in the intensity of the peak at 1108 +/- 25 cm(-1) distinguishing the furanose and pyranose conformers.