Carbohydrates play important structural as well as chemical roles in all living systems. Detection of total carbohydrates, therefore, has wide applications. BioVision’s Total Carbohydrate Assay is a simple, sensitive and robust method of detecting virtually all carbohydrates. The assay is based on the phenol-sulfuric acid method. In Total Carbohydrate Assay, polysaccharides (mono, di, tri, etc.) and their derivatives, in the presence of sulfuric acid, are hydrolyzed to monomers and converted to furfural or hydroxyfurfural, which react with the Developer to form a chromogen that can be quantified by measuring the absorbance at 490 nm. The Total Carbohydrate Assay can detect most forms of carbohydrates, including simple and complex saccharides, glycans, glycoproteins and glycolipids.