Capillary electrophoresis of amino sugars with laser-induced fluorescence detection.

3-(4-Carboxybenzoyl)-2-quinolinecarboxaldehyde has been utilized as a precolumn derivatization agent for various amino sugars. Constituents of various biological mixtures can be converted to highly fluorescent isoindole derivatives, separated by high-performance capillary electrophoresis and determined at attomole (10(-18) mol) levels by a laser-induced fluorescence detector. This method has been applied to the analysis of monosaccharides and acid-hydrolyzed polysaccharides. Carbohydrate moieties derived from a glycoprotein were also tagged and determined.