posted on 2006-07-28, 00:00authored byYalin Wu, Yuanjiang Pan, Cuirong Sun, Nan Hu, Omar Ishurd
An alkali-extractable polysaccharide (1) was isolated from the seeds of Retama raetam ssp. gussonei. Its composition
and linkage determination have been investigated using component analysis, methylation analysis, hydrolysis studies,
and NMR spectroscopic analysis. This was shown to contain d-xylose, d-glucose, and 4-O-methyl-d-glucuronic acid in
a molar ratio of 7:2:1 and consisted of a backbone of β-(1→4)-linked d-xylopyranosyl residues, having branches of
α-d-glucopyranosyl residues that contain (1→2)-linkages and 4-O-methyl-α-d-glucopyranosyluronic acid at O-2. This
is the first report on the isolation of an alkali-extractable polysaccharide from this plant.