The Use of Gas‐Liquid Chromatography for the Determination of Sugars Extracted from Soils by Sulfuric Acid

Abstract A quantitative procedure was developed for the determination of soil sugars by gas‐liquid chromatography of the acetate derivatives of the alditols obtained by reduction of the sugars. Myoinositol or quebrachitol was used as an internal standard during the production of alditol acetates and their separation by gas‐liquid chromatography. Sugars were isolated from soil hydrolysates by neutralization of the acid and precipitation of the sulfate using strontium carbonate. The filtrates were evaporated to dryness and the sugars extracted using methanol. The release of monosaccharides from soils using H 2 SO 4 was studied and conditions of hydrolysis are recommended which depend on the nature of the soil and the purpose of the investigation.