Abstract:

This study aimed to analyze the monosaccharide composition of five polysaccharides (DTA, DTB1, DTB2, DTB3,
and DTC) extracted from “Tangzao” jujube fruits, a major local cultivar in Hunan, China. The polysaccharides were
extracted from fruits of three-year-old jujube trees and analysis of the monosaccharide composition was performed by
gas chromatography following derivatization with aldononitrile acetate. The results showed that the most predominant
monosaccharides were glucose, xylitol, glucose, galactose, which accounted for 36.4%, 19.4% (as high as 36.4% in DTC),
18.5%, and 24.2% of the total monosaccharides, respectively, followed by rhamnose, ribose, arabinoseand mannose, which
accounted for 7.1%, 6.5%, 8.1% and 7.9% of the total sugars, respectively, and then fucose and xylose with relative contents
of only 5.0% and 3.4%, respectively (only 0.8% fucose was contained in DTB1 and only 0.7% xylose in DTB2). It can be seen
that the monosaccharide composition of polysaccharides from “Tangzao” jujubes is quite different.

Key words: jujube, polysaccharide, component, monosaccharide