DIRECT QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE-ANALYSIS OF CARBOHYDRATE MIXTURESUSING C-13 NMR-SPECTROSCOPY - APPLICATION TO HONEY

A method is described which allows the identification of individual ca rbohydrates of multi-component artificial mixtures using the computer- aided analysis of their C-13 NMR spectra, without previous separation. Quantitation of mono-, di- and trisaccharides was carried out after i mprovement of the experimental procedure and using an internal standar d, The procedure was then applied to authentic honeys of different flo ral types, harvested in Corsica (France). Several oligosaccharides (id entification of some of these is not easy by chromatographic technique s) were observed at levels ranging from 0.4 to 3.3%. In addition, the fructose/glucose ratio, which has an influence on crystallization, was easily obtainable. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.