{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,25]],"date-time":"2026-09-25T07:25:55Z","timestamp":1790321155562,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":19,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,31]],"date-time":"2020-12-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1609372800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\"><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Saponins are secondary metabolites from plants added to shampoos and beverages to make them foam, and the sapogenins released from them upon acid hydrolysis are commonly used as starting materials for steroidal drugs. However, current methods embed the saponin in a thick \u201cgum\u201d material consisting of multiple impurities. This gum limits access to the saponin, reducing the efficiency of hydrolysis and requiring large amounts of heat, organic solvents and effort to recover the sapogenin. For centuries, herbalists have been making tinctures by soaking plant materials at room temperature, in mixtures of alcohol and water. Many herbal tinctures contain saponins floating freely in solution, gum free. The saponin from sarsaparilla (<jats:italic>Smilax<\/jats:italic>spp), sarsasaponin, yields the sapogenin, sarsasapogenin, upon acid hydrolysis. The retail price of sarsasapogenin is very high but would be lower if the \u201cgum problem\u201d could be avoided.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec id=\"sec002\"><jats:title>Materials and methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>We incubated sarsaparilla tincture under different conditions of temperature, acidity and duration then used quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (qNMR) to measure the amount of sarsasapogenin produced by hydrolysis as well as the amount of its epimer, smilagenin.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec id=\"sec003\"><jats:title>Results and discussion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Most, if not all the sarsasaponin in sarsaparilla root powder is extracted into a solution of 45% ethanol (55% water) at room temperature and stays suspended without formation of any particles (gum). Acid hydrolysis of the saponin in this solution is very efficient, approaching 100%. The sarsasapogenin released by hydrolysis and the smilagenin produced by its epimerisation, migrate into the chloroform phase.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec id=\"sec004\"><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Sarsaparilla saponin diffuses into and disperses in a solution of alcohol:water (45:55) at room temperature. Hydrolysis of saponins in tincture provides a simple, inexpensive and environmentally friendly alternative.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0244654","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,31]],"date-time":"2020-12-31T19:03:48Z","timestamp":1609441428000},"page":"e0244654","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Acid hydrolysis of saponins extracted in tincture"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6363-2369","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Jamie","family":"Love","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8024-6996","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Casey R.","family":"Simons","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0244654.ref001","unstructured":"CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics 86th edition. September 2005 Editor-in-Chief David R. Lide. Taylor and Francis Group LLC 2006"},{"key":"pone.0244654.ref002","unstructured":"Ibid."},{"key":"pone.0244654.ref003","unstructured":"Ibid."},{"key":"pone.0244654.ref004","unstructured":"Smilagenin Product Data Sheet available at https:\/\/file.medchemexpress.com\/batch_PDF\/HY-106353\/Smilagenin-DataSheet-MedChemExpress.pdf and Sarsasapogenin Product Data Sheet available at https:\/\/file.medchemexpress.com\/batch_PDF\/HY-N0073\/Sarsasapogenin-DataSheet-MedChemExpress.pdf both accessed 21 September 2020."},{"key":"pone.0244654.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17","DOI":"10.1016\/j.steroids.2015.04.001","article-title":"Erroneous epimerization at C-22 in sapogenins","volume":"100","author":"I Jastrzebska","year":"2015","journal-title":"Steroids"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0244654.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"501","DOI":"10.1016\/S0021-9258(18)75520-8","article-title":"On Sarsasapogenin and Gitogenin","volume":"105","author":"WA Jacobs","year":"1934","journal-title":"J. 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Accessed 21 September 2020."},{"key":"pone.0244654.ref011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"283","DOI":"10.1007\/s13659-017-0139-5","article-title":"Steroidal Saponins from the Genus Smilax and Their Biological Activities","volume":"7","author":"LW Tian","year":"2017","journal-title":"Nat. Prod. Bioprospect"},{"key":"pone.0244654.ref012","unstructured":"U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. 1992\u20132016. Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases. Home Page, https:\/\/data.nal.usda.gov\/. Accessed 21 August 2020."},{"key":"pone.0244654.ref013","unstructured":"Available at https:\/\/phytochem.nal.usda.gov\/phytochem\/plants\/show\/1853?qlookup=smilax&offset=0&max=20&et=. Accessed 21 August 2020."},{"key":"pone.0244654.ref014","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"649","DOI":"10.1201\/9781420040463","volume-title":"Handbook of Medicinal Herbs","author":"JA Duke","year":"2002","edition":"2"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0244654.ref015","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"465","DOI":"10.1016\/0031-9422(96)00274-9","article-title":"1996. Steroidal saponins from Smilax officinalis","volume":"43","author":"RR Bernardo","year":"1996","journal-title":"Phytochemistry"},{"key":"pone.0244654.ref016","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"283","DOI":"10.1007\/s13659-017-0139-5","article-title":"Steroidal Saponins from the Genus Smilax and Their Biological Activities","volume":"7","author":"LW Tian","year":"2017","journal-title":"Nat. Prod. Bioprospect"},{"key":"pone.0244654.ref017","unstructured":"\u201cNapiers the Herbalists\u201d. Glasgow, United Kingdom, G4 0LF, https:\/\/www.napiers.net"},{"key":"pone.0244654.ref018","unstructured":"Monica Wilde. 2014. How to make your own herbal tincture. Napiers Herbals. https:\/\/napiers.net\/how-to-make-herbal-tincture.html"},{"key":"pone.0244654.ref019","unstructured":"See, for example, http:\/\/brilliantbiologystudent.weebly.com\/ethanol-emulsion-test-for-lipids.html"}],"container-title":["PLOS ONE"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0244654","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,18]],"date-time":"2021-04-18T14:39:06Z","timestamp":1618756746000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0244654"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Pasquale","family":"Avino","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"editor"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,31]]},"references-count":19,"journal-issue":{"issue":"12","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,31]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0244654","relation":{},"ISSN":["1932-6203"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1932-6203","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,31]]}}}