Determination of sugars and cyclitols isolated from various morphological parts of Medicago sativa L

Abstract

Plant research interest has increased all over the world, and a large body of evidence has been collected to show the huge potential of medicinal plants in various disease treatments. Medicago sativa L., known as alfalfa, is a rich source of biologically active components and secondary metabolites and was frequently used from the ancient times both as fodder crop and as a traditional medicine in the treatment of various diseases. Cyclitols, naturally occurring in this plant, have a particular interest for us due to their significant anti-diabetic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer properties. In the present study we revealed the isolation, the identification, and the quantification of some cyclitols and sugars extracted from different morphological parts of alfalfa plant. Soxhlet extraction and solid phase extraction were used as extraction and purification methods, while for the analyses derivatization followed by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry was involved. The obtained results showed significant differences in the quantities of cyclitols and sugars found in the investigated morphological parts, ranging between 0.02 and 13.86 mg/g of plant in case of cyclitols, and in the range of 0.09 and 40.09 mg/g of plant for sugars. However, roots have the richest part of cyclitols and sugars in contrast to the leaves.

Pressurized liquid extraction of cyclitols and sugars: optimization of extraction parameters and selective separation

“…GC-MS analysis was performed as described in [14]. Prior to the GC analysis, 10 μL of each extract was mixed with 10 μL of the internal standard solution (IS) of allo-inositol (10 ng) in 2 ml glass vials.…”

“…The analysis of the main bioactive cyclitols isolated from plant material is typically accomplished via GC with flame ionization detector or MS , as well as by HPLC with different detectors . Other spectral techniques including NMR and IR spectroscopy have also been used .…”

“…Recently, PLE has been successfully used for extraction of sugars and cyclitols from different plants such as Solidago genus, artichoke bracts, oak wood and mulberry leaves. [11][12][13] The analysis of the main bioactive cyclitols isolated from plant material is typically accomplished via GC with flame ionization detector or MS [14,15], as well as by HPLC with different detectors [1,16]. Other spectral techniques including NMR and IR spectroscopy have also been used [17].…”

New approach for fast identification of cyclitols by MALDI‐TOF mass spectrometry

“…Among the most popular methods for separation and identification of cyclitols are chromatographic techniques. The most commonly used and convenient techniques are thin layer chromatography (TLC), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with refractive index (RI) detector, light‐scattering detector (ELSD) or with mass spectrometry (MS) detector, as well as gas chromatography (GC) combined with MS in different configurations . Moreover, electrospray ionisation (ESI) as a soft ionisation technique was found to be very efficient in the determination of myo ‐inositol from biological samples …”

“…The most commonly used and convenient techniques are thin layer chromatography (TLC), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with refractive index (RI) detector, lightscattering detector (ELSD) or with mass spectrometry (MS) detector, as well as gas chromatography (GC) combined with MS in different configurations. [11][12][13][14][15][16] Moreover, electrospray ionisation (ESI) as a soft ionisation technique was found to be very efficient in the determination of myo-inositol from biological samples. 17 Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation (MALDI) has been widely used for analysis of large molecules such as proteins, peptides and sugars.…”