Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kennedy, L. M.
Right arrow Articles by Halpern, B. P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Kennedy, L. M.
Right arrow Articles by Halpern, B. P.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Chemical Senses 5: 123-147,
© 1980

research-article

Extraction, purification and characterization of a sweetnessmodifying component from Ziziphus jujuba*

Linda M. Kennedy** and Bruce P. Halpern

Department of Psychology, Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138 Department of Psychology, Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853, USA Department of Psychology and Section of Neurobiology and Behavior, Division of Biological Sciences, Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853, USA

An aqueous ethanol extract of Ziziphus jujuba leaves was fractionated by solvent extraction. The active chloroform-ethanol fraction was separated into two components - ZjE-A, which had surface active properties, and ZjE-B, which did not. Bioassay by psychophysical tests on humans revealed sweetness-modifying activity in ZjE-A, but not in ZjE-B. The combined chemistry and bioassay results indicated that the active component is either closely associated with, or is itself, an amphipathic molecule and supported the notion of a role for surface active properties in the tastemodifying action of Z. jujuba. Thin layer chromatography (TLC) and other data indicated and/or suggested that the active component in Z. jujuba consists of a group of compounds (ziziphins), which probably are triterpene saponin glycosides, as had been indicated previously for the taste-modifying component in Gymnema sylvestre (gymnemic acids). However, the ziziphins differed from the gymnemic acids in TLC mobility and in coloration by a Liebermann-Burchard reagent. Therefore, the ziziphins are not the same compounds as the gymnemic acids. ZjE-A is a potent, purified component, consisting of 60–80% ziziphins, which should be useful for future physiological and chemical studies.

*A preliminary report of this research was presented at the Chemical Senses and Intake Society Annual Meeting, Natick, MA, April, 1977. An earlier version of this paper is included in Kennedy,L.M., Ph. D.Thesis, Harvard University, 1979

**Now at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology, Shrewsbury, MA 01545, USA, Reprint requests should be sent to this address


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.