Abstract
An X-ray diffractometric method was developed for the determination of inulin in plants. Dextrin and α-alumina were used as the diluent and internal standard material, respectively. The plant sample was ground to a powder with a propeller-type mill, because the use of a ball mill markedly reduced the intensity of the diffraction line of inulin. The powdered sample was mixed with α-alumina in an agate mortar for diffractometric analysis. This convenient method (detection limit, 4.0% ; standard deviation, 3.9%) was applied to the determination of inulin in some medicinal plants of the Compositae and Campanulaceae families, and high inulin contents were obtained in the cases of plants such as the dahlia, which were thought to contain a large amount of inulin on the basis of microscopic examination.
