Contribution of kestoses (fructo-oligosaccharides) to the morphological modification of sucrose crystal

In the past the effects of monosaccharides, oligosaccharides and polysacccharides have been studied whilst even taking into account the possibility of their synergistic influence on the final morphology of the sucrose crystals. However, fructo-oligosaccharides have not been until now been studied in depth even though they are always present in cane juices. The authors have found that such compounds can cause great morphological modifications resulting in the formation of triangular and rhombic sucrose crystals, due to a strong slowing down of the growth rate of the o, o', q, q', w, w' faces, the increased sizes of which dramatically decrease the sizes of the p and p' faces. Planar chromatography of doped sucrose crystals showed that the most powerful oligosaccharide habit-modifier is the neo-kestose. Moreover, X-ray diffractometric analysis showed anisotropic distorsions of the doped sucrose crystal lattice, because of the sectorial segragation of the extraneous molecules.