title: Boric acid as a mobile phase additive for high performance liquid chromatography separation of ribose, arabinose and ribulose.
abstract: A new high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method is described for the analysis of ribose, arabinose and ribulose mixtures obtained from (bio)chemical isomerization processes. These processes gain importance since the molecules can be used for the synthesis of antiviral therapeutics. The HPLC method uses boric acid as a mobile phase additive to enhance the separation on an Aminex HPX-87K column. By complexing with boric acid, the carbohydrates become negatively charged, thus elute faster from the column by means of ion exlusion and are separated because the complexation capacity with boric acid differs from one carbohydrate to another. Excellent separation between ribose, ribulose and arabinose was achieved with concentrations between 0.1 and 10 gL(-1) of discrete sugar.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Industrial Microbiology and Biocatalysis, Department of Biochemical and Microbial Technology, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, B-9000 Gent, Belgium. Cassandra.DeMuynck@UGent.be
authors.forename: Cassandra
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: De Muynck
authors.forename: Joeri
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Beauprez
authors.forename: Wim
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Soetaert
authors.forename: Erick J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Vandamme
mesh_terms: D019747:Aldose-Ketose Isomerases / Q000378:metabolism; D001089:Arabinose / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D001888:Boric Acids / Q000737:chemistry*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D010429:Pentoses / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012266:Ribose / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013237:Stereoisomerism
chemical_list: D001888:Boric Acids; D010429:Pentoses; C100182:ribulose; D012266:Ribose; D001089:Arabinose; D019747:Aldose-Ketose Isomerases; C023298:xylose isomerase; C032688:boric acid