Capillary zone electrophoresis of syringyl and guaiacyl monomers resulting from lignin thioacidolysis.

A capillary zone electrophoretic method has been developed for the quantitative determination of syringyl (S) and guaiacyl (G) monomers resulting from lignin thioacidolysis. The effects on the separation of altering a number of parameters have been investigated, resulting in an efficient and rapid separation. Analysis times were about 10 min instead of 50 min for the conventional GC methods, with no requirement for a derivatisation step prior to analysis. Relative standard deviations ranged between 8 and 12% for the absolute determination of S and G monomers, and between 1.4 and 3.5% for the S/G ratio.