Fructo-oligosaccharides and sucrose crystal growth morphology. II Verification of nonsucrose absorption through chromatographic analysis and x-ray diffractometry

In the first part of this study it was pointed out that sucrose microcrystals nucleated in the presence of a commercially mixture of fructo-oligosaccharides (Actilight®) showed a quite unusual triangular morphology, which, in turn, changed to a rhombic morphology during growth. With the aim of clarifying how the Actilight® components, i.e. 1-kestose (GF2), nystose (GF3) and fructosyl-nystose (GF4), affected the growth morphology of the sucrose crystals, an investigation to determine their presence and distribution inside the crystals was carried out. Both whole single crystals and samples cut from their right and left poles were analyzed using planar Chromatographic techniques. GF2 and GF3 were found together with evidence of another dominant unknown oligosaccharide throughout the whole crystals, and these oligosaccharides were more concentrated in the right poles. In fact, the same unknown oligosaccharide was identified as a minor component of Actilight®, even though its presence was ...