Carbohydrate-metal salt complexes stability

The effectiveness with which the solvent promotes migration decreases in the order methanol > ethanol water. The extremely low stability of complexes in water can be explained by the relatively great tendency of metal ions to associate with water molecules.70 The difference between the rate in ethanol and that in methanol can be attributed, at least partly, to the fact that salts are more highly dissociated into free ions in methanol71 a higher concentration of free cations would permit a higher concentration of positively charged carbohydrate species. 

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