VPC Analysis of Pyrolysis Products of Saccharides

Abstract

The pyrolysis products formed from the decomposition on a hot platinum coil of a number of saccharides were analyzed with a high-sensitivity vapor-phase chromatograph. Reproducibility was erratic, but the chromatographs of the pyrolysis products of mannose, dextrose, galactose, xylose, sucrose, levulose, maltose, lactose and cellobiose were indistinguishable. Rhamnose and sorbitol behaved unlike any of the other saccharides, and alpha-methylglucoside behaved similarly only to alpha-methylmannoside.