Chromatography Forum

Greetings all,

My first time posting. I bought a large sample of D+galactose powder rather cheaply in bulk, but it has some colorants, and possibly other contaminants. They cause a broad and quite significant fluorescence background with near-infrared Raman spectroscopy. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to quickly remove the impurities without too much expense?

Since I have a large sample and do not mind losing a bit of it, I am thinking of supersaturating the galactose in water and then removing the supernatant hoping that it would dissolve and carry out most of the contamination. I could do this a few times with distilled water, and then a final boil to remove all the water.

I am appreciative of any suggestions. BTW, we are not a chemistry facility, but a bunch of engineers. Thanks!

EDIT: Typo corrections.

You probably need to crystallize galactose it. You can also try to dissolve it in water and add either charcoal or some IE resin to take out colorants. Prep chromatography might be too expensive.