Large Scale Preparation of Selected Glucose Oligomers and Polymers by Gel Filtration Chromatography

Abstract
A method for isolating relatively large quantities of glucose oligomer and polymer subfractions from a corn starch hydrolysate is described. Employing large columns of Bio-Gel P-2 (40-80 .mu.m) at room temperature, 0.5-1.2 g of oligomeric fractions containing 3-4 adjacent homologues can be prepared each day. The columns are homemade, require no flow adapters and are operated by gravity elution with water as the solvent. The means for avoiding and overcoming potential difficulties, such as microbial contamination and declining flow rate, are described. With the use of the described method, a single column can be operated continuously for up to 12 mo.