Stevioside methanol tetra­solvate

Stevioside is a naturally occurring diterpenoid glycoside in Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni. The title compound, C(38)H(60)O(18)·4CH(3)OH, crystallized as its methanol tetrasolvate. Stevioside consists of an aglycone steviol (a tetra­cyclic diterpene in which the four-fused-ring system consists of three six-membered rings and one five-membered ring) and a sugar part (three glucose units). A weak intra­molecular O—H⋯O hydrogen bond occurs. In the crystal, the methanol mol­ecules participate in a two-dimensional hydrogen-bonded network parallel to b axis with the sugars and together they form a hydrophilic tunnel which encloses the lipophilic part of the molecule.