THE MEASUREMENT OF DEXTRAN IN RAW SUGARS USING H-1-NMR

In the cane sugar industry the purchase price of raw cane sugar, the p roduct of sugar cane processing, is determined by polarimetric measure ment of sucrose content in raw sugar solutions expressed as Pol. Raw s ugar generally contains more than 96 % sucrose, but also contains othe r saccharides and non-sugars which can contribute to Pol. Dextrans, on e class of polysaccharides often found in raw sugar, effect an increas e in Poland interfere with subsequent refining. The U.S. sugar refinin g industry can impose a penalty on the raw sugar purchase price for hi gh dextran content. While there are several wet chemical methods for t he determination of dextran in raw sugar, the results of these analyse s are rarely in agreement. The existing wet chemical methods for the d etermination of dextran in raw cane sugar are reviewed and the results of these wet chemical analyses are compared with the results obtained from the physical measurement of dextran in raw sugar by H-1 NMR spec troscopy.