Separation and detection of hemicellulose and insights into chemical heterogeneity through capillary electrophoresis

This study demonstrates CE's potential for examining structural changes within polysaccharides and proposes a unique detection method without any sample preparation (no filtration, no derivatization). For the first time, "standard" and wood hemicelluloses were separated using CE and detected by UV absorption at highly alkaline pH. Additionally, the high level of molecular heterogeneity of intact wood hemicelluloses was quantified through dispersity of electrophoretic mobility distributions, revealing that a number of polysaccharides are charged and contain uronic acids.