Sapogenins plants

During this period of intense synthetic research, a search for inexpensive raw materials for the partial synthesis of steroids was initiated. Abundant quantities of the sapogenin diosgenin [512-04-9] were isolated from plant sources and used for the industrial preparation of steroids (9). 

Sapogenins and Saponins. Steroids isolated from a variety of plant sources that contain a spiroketal between hydroxyl moieties at C16 and C26 and a carbonyl at C22 are called sapogenins (33). 

Sapogeniiis of the dammaran type were isolated from the leaves and roots of the plant Panax no-toginseng, native to China One of these sapogeniiis has the elemental eomposition C30//52O4 and produees the set of NMR results 51. What is the strueture of the sapogenin ... 

With the shift of raw materials, first from cholesterol to bile acids, then to plant sapogenins such as diosgenin, 17- keto steroids were no longer directly available, and improved methods for the degradation of 20-ketopregnanes (which were the principal products from these new sources) had to be developed. 

Saponins are a family of glycosides (sugar derivatives) widely distributed in plants. Each saponin consists of a sugar moiety bound to a sapogenin (either a steroid or a triterpene). The immunostimulatory properties of the saponin fraction isolated from the bark of Quillaja (a tree) has been long recognized. Quil A (which consists of a mixture of related saponins) is used as an adjuvant in selected veterinary vaccines. However, its haemolytic potential precludes its use in human vaccines. Research efforts continue in an attempt to identify individual saponins (or derivatives thereof) that would make safe and effective adjuvants for use in human medicine. 

Shibata, S., Tanaka, O., Ando, T., Sado, M., Tsushima, S., and Ohsawa, T. (1966). Chemical studies on oriental plant drugs. XIV. Protopanaxadiol, a genuin sapogenin of ginseng saponins. Cheni. Pharm. Bull. 14, 595-600. 

There have been a number of reports of the use of enzymes in the extraction of oils from sources such as fish, rape seed, yeast, palms, and soya beans. Celluloses and pectinases are used in pdm oil extraction. In soya bean and fish, much oil has been found to be associated with protein, so that addition of proteases increases the yield of oil and protein. Use of thermostable proteases is preferred, but m general the use of enzymes is limited by the minimal water contents of the various process streams. Trichoderma uride and A niger celluloses, hemicellulases and proteases have been used to extract hydrocarbons from Euphorbia plants 39 40) and similar enzymes used to extract sapogenins from Helleborus 41). 

Pharmaceutical steroids are usually synthesized from cholic acid obtained from cattle or steroid sapogenins found in plants. Further modifications of these steroids have led to the marketing of a large group of synthetic steroids with special characteristics that are pharmacologically and therapeutically important (Table 39-1 Figure 39-3). 

Sansevieria trifosciate Prain Hu Wei Lan (Snake plant) (leaf) Abamagenin, haemolytic sapogenin, organic acids.50 Leaf juice for earache. Treat itchiness. 

Cerdon, C., Rahier, A., Taton, M. and Sauvaire, Y. (1995) Effects of tetcyclacis on growth and on sterol and sapogenin content in Fenugreek. /. Plant Growth Reg., 14, 15-22. 

Table (1) and Table (2), listed in alphabetic order, include the triterpenoid sapogenins and their glycosides (saponins), respectively, extracted fi om Astragalus spp., their structures and plant sources, covering a literature up to the beginning of2000. [146,147,219]... 

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