Investigation of Spectrophotometrically Determined Substances in Yucca Extract by GC/MS, TLC and On-column Injection GC

Abstract

Spectrophotometrically determined substances in Yucca extract, listed as "Yucca foam extract" in the "List of Existing Food Additives in Japan", were investigated by GC/MS, TLC and GC. A TLC method using an anisaldehyde color developing reagent similar to that employed in spectrophotometry was established for selective detection of sapogenins in Yucca extract. Several steroidal sapogenins were found by GC/MS in the fractions corresponding to spots on the TLC plate, and these were assumed to have contributed to the color development in spectrophotometry. Sarsasapogenin and smilagenin were the dominant sapogenins. An on-column injection GC method to determine these sapogenins in Yucca extract was also developed. The sum of these two sapogenins in Yucca extract was 0.9῎. The total amount of sapogenin estimated by GC was approximately 2῎, which was similar to that measured by spectrophotometry.

Phytochemical analysis of Phyllanthus niruri L. (Phyllanthaceae) extracts collected in four geographical areas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

“…These colored spots are absents in Unikin, UPN and Kisantu samples. The violet spot in Kimwenza sample may be due to lipids and the blue spot corresponded to that obtained by Uematsu et al (2004). These authors have identified the blue spot compounds as hydroxymethylfurfral and its ethyl adducts.…”

“…The liquid nitrogen was used for the eventual fluorescence stimulation of compounds. The revelation of spots for steroidal sapogenins was obtained after heating at 110°C under the Memmert Oven during 10 min after spraying triantimony chloride (SbCl 3 ) solution in HCl 12N (1/1; w/v) (Uematsu et al, 2004). Then, the plates were sprayed with solution of H 2 SO 4 10% in methanol.…”

“…The TLC plates were not revealed specific coloration by the application of 10% sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4 ) solution on the plate after splaying the tri-antimony chloride (SbCl 3 ). These sapogenins compounds from P. niruri as diosgenin, ruscogenin and other triterpenic genins would explain several effects of P. niruri on diabetes, anti-inflammatory activity, flu, arthritis, hepatitis treatment (Uematsu et al, 2004;Huang et al, 2008;Kang et al, 2011). It is noted that in general, sapogenins are bio-active principles rather than the saponins themselves (Yung et al, 2005).…”