Simultaneous determination of amino acids and carbohydrates by anion-exchange chromatography with integrated pulsed amperometric detection

A direct, sensitive, simple and practical method for simultaneous determination of amino acids and carbohydrates by anion-exchange chromatography with integrated pulsed amperometric detection was developed. The retention behavior of amino acids and carbohydrates on the anion-exchange column and the detection of amino acids and carbohydrates at different integrated pulsed amperometric detection waveforms were investigated. The optimized gradient eluent conditions for analysis of 17 amino acids and nine carbohydrates were obtained. Separation time was 100 min. Detection limits for amino acids and carbohydrates were 5.2–207.1 nM under injection volume of 25 μl. The RSDs of peak area were 1.2–3.3%. The calibration graphs of peak area for the analytes were linear over about three orders of magnitude with a correlation coefficient of 0.9950–0.9999. The method was applied to determine amino acids and carbohydrates in a liquid condiment with satisfactory results.