Abstract
The water soluble polysaccharides and hemicelluloses of eight species of plants belonging to Berberidaceae were isolated and investigated. The species examined were Berberis thunbergii, Berberis sieboldii, Epimedium grandiflorum, Mahonia japonica, Nandina domestica, Diphylleia cymosa, Caulophyllum thalictroides and Podophyllum peltatum.
Upon acid hydrolysis the water soluble polysaccharides of these plants released a large amount of arabinose and a small amount of xylose, mannose, glucose except in Podophyllum peltatum and galactose except galacturonic acid. By ultracentrifugation, the water soluble polysaccharides from B. thunbergii, M. japonica, N. domestica, C. cymosa, C. thalictroides and P. peltatum sedimented as a single peak, and their sedimentation coefficient (s20, W) were calculated to be 1.37, 2.14, 3.30, 2.03, 1.82 and 2.01, respectively. However, the sedimentation patterns were considered not homogeneous on the basis of the results on B. sieboldii and E. grandiflorum. Judging from the infrared spectra, and sugars in the hydrolyzate of hemicelluloses of the examined eight species, the hemicelluloses were likely to be xylans and glucoxylans with β-linkage.
