Abstract
THE presence of a saponin in the seeds of Trigonella Foenum græcum (Leguminosæ) was first reported by Wunschendorff1, who had subjected the defatted seeds to a process of extraction with alcohol. He obtained from the alcoholic extract a gelatinous precipitate which was afterwards dissolved in alcohol and reprecipitated with ether. Wunschendorff described the product so obtained as a white semicrystalline powder, m.p. 214–215°, which gave a yellow colour test with concentrated sulphuric acid, and a white precipitate with barium hydroxide solution. However, he could not assign a definite formula to the saponin, but showed that it gives by hydrolysis a reducing sugar and water-insoluble sapogenin.
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J. de Pharm. et. de Chim., 20, 183 (1919).
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SOLIMAN, G., MUSTAFA, Z. The Saponin of Fenugreek Seeds. Nature 151, 195–196 (1943). https://doi.org/10.1038/151195b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/151195b0
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