Cereal Chem 57:388 - 390.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Reactions of Oligosaccharides. V. Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography.

B. J. Donnelly, J. E. Voigt, and B. L. Scallet. Copyright 1980 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Pyrolysis-gas chromatography (pyrolysis-GC) distinguished between model carbohydrate compounds, a series of malto-oligosaccharides previously isolated in our laboratories from corn syrup. These sugars, namely maltose (G2), maltotriose (G3), maltotetraose (G4), maltopentaose (G5), and maltohexaose (G6), were subjected to pyrolysis-GC under carefully controlled conditions; major volatile compounds were identified by mass spectrometry. The oligosaccharides gave similar decomposition products. However, when th e pyrograms were normalized, the relative amounts of individual volatile components varied from one sugar to the next. This proved to be true also for other disaccharides and trisaccharides examined by this technique. Differences in the normalized patterns permitted differentiation between carbohydrates of varying molecular structure. Major volatile compounds identified were ethylene, ethane, propylene, acetaldehyde, furan, propionaldehyde, acetone, 2-methylfuran, and methyl ethyl ketone.