Fluorescence study of sugars

We studied photoemission of monosaccharides and disaccharides using laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy. A 532- nm, 10 mW, laser was used to excite the samples and back-scattering signals were collected by a spectrometer. We found that most sugars show weak fluorescence in solid phase but do not fluoresce when dissolved in water solutions. The emission spectra show similar peak intensity at 590 nm, but they are different in emission intensities. We suggest that the fluorescence spectra may be used to differentiate sugar type, even though the origin of the fluorescence is unclear and needed further study.