Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) constitute the third largest component of human milk from which several hundred could be detected at varying concentrations. HMOs are partly linear, partly branched, often fucosylated or sialylated oligosaccharides consisting of at least three individual monosaccharides. These compounds typically cannot be digested by the infant, but rather possess several highly beneficial physiological properties like protection from infectious diseases or acting as a substrate for a healthy microbiome. However, HMOs are unique to human milk and do not occur in the milk of dairy animals. Thus, developing processes for the large-scale production of HMOs in particular for Infant food application or Medical nutrition is highly desirable. We recently developed efficient fermentative approaches to several neutral HMOs like Lacto N tetraose, Lacto N neotetraose, 3-Fucosyllactose as well as to acidic HMOs like 6’Sialyllactose and 3’Sialyllactose. Here, we present the purification of some selected examples via a novel and efficient crystallization process from water or aqueous mixtures yielding highly pure products suitable for Infant food application. Additionally, the crystallization from water is cost effective and offers several advantages compared to existing processes. HMO purification, either intended for scientific purposes or as food supplement, poses enormous challenges to scientists. The separation of structurally related and similarly sized carbohydrates represents a problem, especially on an industrial scale, since methods such as chromatographic separation or dialysis generally provide unsatisfactory results or are inapplicable.

Purification of human milk oligosaccharides obtained from fermentative processes via crystallization from water or aqueous mixtures on industrial scale

2019 Spring National Meeting

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