Purification and identification of oligosaccharides from Cimicifuga heracleifolia Kom. rhizomes

Even though Cimicifuga sp. is widely used in functional foods around the world, the content and structure of its oligosaccharides remain unclear. Here, we isolated a mixture of oligosaccharides from Cimicifuga heracleifolia Kom. rhizomes with a yield of 9.5% w/w. Twenty-six oligosaccharide monomers from the mixture were purified using optimized SEC and HILIC techniques. The oligosaccharides were identified as belonging to two groups by using HPAEC-PAD, MALDI-TOF-MS, NMR and GC–MS methylation analyses. One group belongs to sucrose and inulin type fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) {β-d-Fruf-(2 → 1)-[β-d-Fruf-(2 [Formula: see text] 1)](n=1-12)-α-d-Glcp} with a 3–14 degree of polymerization (DP). Oligosaccharides in the other group belong to the inulo-n-ose type FOS {β-d-Fruf-(2 → 1)-[β-d-Fruf-(2 → 1)](m=0-12)-β-d-Frup} with a DP of 2–14. This appears to be the first time that these oligosaccharides have been purified from Cimicifuga heracleifolia Kom., thus providing useful information concerning the utilization of Cimicifuga heracleifolia Kom. in functional foods.