Fluorophore-assisted carbohydrate electrophoresis (FACE) was used to analyse pectic oligosaccharides. The influence of different factors on the separation of oligosaccharides by FACE was investigated. The condition including the type and the content of fluorescent reagent, labelling time and temperature, salt, acid and the concentration of resolving gel was optimized as follows: 1.2 mg of salty-free and acid-free pectic oligosaccharides were labeled by 3.75 μL of 0.2 mol/L ANTS solution and 5 μL of 1.0 mol/L NaBH3CN solution. The derivative reaction was accomplished at 40 ℃ after 16 h, and the concentration of resolving gel was 38%. In this condition, a pectic oligosaccharide mixture was obtained with the range of DP 2～16. The FACE result was accordant with that of MS analysis. So the FACE procedure described is useful for the rapid monitoring of pectic polysaccharide depolymerization and acdic oligosaccharide analysis.

Key words: pectin, oligosaccharide derivative, fluorophore-assisted carbohydrate electrophoresis, 8-aminonaphthalene-1,3,6-trisulfonate, 2-aminoacridone