Separation of N-Acetylglucosamine and N-Acetylmannosamine by Chromatography on Sephadex in Borate Buffer

✍ Scribed by L. Roden; H. Yu; J. Jin; J. Greenshields

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 319 KB
• Volume: 209
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0003-2697
• DOI: 10.1006/abio.1993.1101

✦ Synopsis

Several procedures have been used previously for the separation of (\boldsymbol{N})-acetylglucosamine and (\boldsymbol{N})-acetylmannosamine, which are based on the difference in strength of the borate complexes of the two (N)-acetylhexosamines and include paper chromatography on boratetreated paper, paper electrophoresis in borate buffer, and anion-exchange chromatography of the borate complexes. In the present study, we have observed that the two sugars, despite their identical size in noncomplexed form, may also be separated by gel chromatography in borate buffer. Nearly complete resolution was obtained by chromatography on a column ((1.5 \times 117) cm) of Sephadex G-15, which was eluted at room temperature with (0.27 \mathrm{M}) sodium borate, (\mathrm{pH} 7.8) (prepared from (\mathrm{H}{3} \mathrm{BO}{3}) by addition of (\mathrm{NaOH}) ), at a flow rate of 10 (\mathrm{ml} / \mathrm{h}). This procedure complements existing methods for the separation of (\mathrm{N})-acetylmannosamine and (\mathrm{N})-acetylglucosamine and has the advantage that it can be carried out on a relatively large preparative scale. c. 1993 Academic Press, Inc.