Separation of xylose and glucose on different silica-confined ionic liquid stationary phases.

Xylose and glucose, as the main hydrolyzed products of plant cell wall, were separated by silica-confined ionic liquid (IL) stationary phases. Five different stationary phases were synthesized and characterized. Instead of using the traditional NH(2) column, the imidazolium stationary phases exhibit excellent retention to the xylose and glucose. The retention factor and resolution of the monosaccharides decreased with decreasing acetonitrile concentration. In addition, the effects of the IL cations and anions on the retention of xylose and glucose were studied and the adsorption behavior of these two monosaccharides on the stationary phases was investigated. Then the mobile phase and temperature were optimized to improve the performance for the separation of xylose and glucose.