Determination of Sugars in Molasses by HPLC Following Solid-Phase Extraction

Fructose, glucose, and sucrose in sugarcane molasses are determined simultaneously by high performance liquid chromatography using maltose as internal standard with refractive index detector. The mixture of the diluted samples and internal standard was purified with Sep-Pak C₁₈ solid-phase extraction and filtered through a 0.22-μm membrane before injection. The results showed that the linear ranges for fructose, glucose, and sucrose were 3.30–16.48, 1.80–9.02, and 5.94–29.70 g/L with the squared correlation coefficients (R²) being 0.9986, 0.9987, and 0.9955, respectively. The method is simple, quantified, and time-saving for determination of sugars in sugarcane molasses.