[Diol column as stationary phase for high performance liquid chromatographic analysis of carbohydrates in drinks with evaporative light scattering detection].

A high performance liquid chromatographic method with a diol column and evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD) was established for the direct analysis of fructose, glucose, sucrose, maltose and raffinose in mixture. A separation column (Lichrospher 100 Diol, 250 mm x 4.0 mm i.d., 5 microns, Hewlett-Packard, USA) and a guard column (Zorbax Rx-SIL, 12.5 mm x 4.6 mm i.d., 5 microns) were used. The mobile phase was a mixture of dichloromethane-methanol (3.2:1, volume ratio). Regression equations revealed linear relationship (correlation coefficients: 0.995-0.999) between the mass of carbohydrates injected and the peak area of carbohydrates detected by ELSD. The detection limits of ELSD (S/N = 3) were about 0.20 microgram for all carbohydrates. This system could be used for the routine analysis of simple carbohydrates in some common drinks on market.