GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY OF CARBOHYDRATES - QUANTITATIVE DETERMINATION OF FREE SUGARS OF PLANTS AS THEIR TRIMETHYLSILYL ETHERS

A gas chromatographic system for separating the trimethylsilyl ethers of the common free sugars of plants is described. Using myoinositol as an internal standard the technique has been used for the direct quantitative determination of fructose, glucose and sucrose. Its accuracy, as assessed by the analysis of synthetic sugar mixtures, was within 5%. Some difficulties encountered in the analysis of plant extracts have been overcome by modifying the preparation of the samples. The technique has been applied to a range of plant tissues and found to be simple, fast and to give high reproducibility. © 1969.