Preparation of polysaccharides from wax gourd

Abstract

Preparation of polysaccharides from the wax gourd was studied. The crude polysaccharides were extracted by ethanol precipitation, and deproteinized by the hydrochloric acid method. The deproteinized polysaccharides were separated by column chromatography to obtain the pure polysaccharides. The pure polysaccharides have a β-D-pyranosidic bond, and their molecular weight distribution is about 22,500. It was indicated that the final product had much more purity by IR spectrum analysis, UV absorption spectrum analysis, and phenol–sulfuric acid method, respectively. It was proved that wax gourd polysaccharides were composed of rhamnose, xylose, arabinose, mannose, glucose, and galactose by thin layer chromatography.

Keywords::

• Wax gourd
• polysaccharides
• preparation
• deproteinization
• analysis

Declaration of interest: The present work was supported by Natural Science Foundation Project of CQ CSTC (No. CSTC, 2009BB5238), and Chongqing Education Commission Foundation (No. KJ080810), China. The authors report no conflicts of interest, and we are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.