The use of gas-liquid chromatography in the analysis of neutral monosaccharides in hydrolysates of gastric mucopolysaccharides

1. Conditions are described for the separation and estimation of the neutral monosaccharides obtained on acidic hydrolysis of human gastric mucopolysaccharides. 2. The technique involves the formation of the trimethylsilyl derivatives of the sugars and the analysis of these by gas-liquid chromatography. 3. The monosaccharides estimated in gastric mucopolysaccharides by this technique were l-fucose, d-mannose, d-galactose and d-glucose. 4. The analytical values for glucose and fucose obtained by this method agreed well with values obtained by the glucose oxidase and thioglycollic acid methods respectively. 5. Evidence is presented which clearly indicates that gas-liquid chromatography is a faster, more sensitive and more convenient technique for the measurement of these compounds than any other in use at present.