Fundamental chemical research concerning wood and
wood-derived products depends on a knowledge of the
materials' carbohydrate composition. Separation and
quantitation of hydrolyzed carbohydrate components of
woods and wood pulps by high performance liquid chro
matography is fast and efficient. Sugars are separated with
a lead(lI)-loaded Aminex cation-exchange resin. In this
study, six woods and four pulps were analyzed three times
by liquid and paper Chromatography (LC and PC). Statis
tical analysis at the 95% confidencelevel indicatesthe two
methods are equally accurate tor glucan, mannan, and
galactan. There is a statistical difference for xylan and
arabinan at 95% confidence. The LC precision is better
than PC precision for glucan and xylan. The precision is
equivalent for arabinan and mannan but not as good for
galactan. The differential refractive index detector on the
LC is linear up to a loading of 2 mg of glucose. The op
timum column operating temperature is 45-55°C.