Saponins from European Licorice Roots (<i>Glycyrrhiza glabra</i>)

Abstract

European licorice roots (<i>Glycyrrhiza glabra</i>),\nused in the food and beverage industry due to their distinctive sweet\nand typical licorice flavor, were fractionated, with the triterpenoid\nsaponins isolated and their chemical structures determined by means\nof ESIMS, ESIMS/MS, HRESIMS, and 1D/2D NMR experiments. Next to the\nquantitatively predominant saponin glycyrrhizin (<b>11</b>)\nand some previously known saponins, the structures of 10 monodesmosidic\nsaponins were assigned unequivocally for the first time, namely, 30-hydroxyglycyrrhizin\n(<b>1</b>), glycyrrhizin-20-methanoate (<b>2</b>), 24-hydroxyglucoglycyrrhizin\n(<b>3</b>), rhaoglycyrrhizin (<b>4</b>), 11-deoxorhaoglycyrrhizin\n(<b>5</b>), rhaoglucoglycyrrhizin (<b>6</b>), rhaogalactoglycyrrhizin\n(<b>7</b>), 11-deoxo-20α-glycyrrhizin (<b>8</b>),\n20α-galacturonoylglycyrrhizin (<b>9</b>), and 20α-rhaoglycyrrhizin\n(<b>10</b>).