LC–MS analyses of saponin fractions of Achyranthes roots in the Japanese market revealed that there were three patterns for the saponin fraction of their water extracts, i.e., the saponins with a sugar moiety at position 28 [achyranthosides B (3), C (4) and D (5)] were the major constituents, the saponins without sugar moiety at position 28 [betavulgarosides II (10) and IV (11)] were the major constituents, and mixtures of these saponins. In a decoction prepared from the sample which contained 10 and 11 as the major saponins, their amounts were largely decreased compared with those of the water extract. As large amounts of these saponins were found in the precipitates formed by heating of the water extract, these saponins were seemed to precipitate out under heating. When hot water was used for the extraction, 3, 4 and 5 were detected even from the samples whose water extract did not contain these saponins. This was attributed to inhibition of endogenous esterase which hydrolyzes the ester linkage at position 28. When saponins were extracted with reagent grade 1-butanol, in addition to the decrease of the amounts of highly polar saponins, oxidative decarboxylation of 3 and 10 occurred resulting in formation of achyranthoside E (6) and spinacoside D (12), respectively. As these changes were not observed with HPLC grade 1-butanol, which contain not more than 5 ppm of peroxide impurities, the change was attributable to the peroxide impurities contained in the reagent grade 1-butanol.

中文翻译：

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LC-MS分析了日本市场中牛膝的皂苷的含量。

LC-MS分析日本市场中牛膝的皂苷组分的结果表明，其水提取物中的皂苷组分存在三种模式，即在28位上具有糖部分的皂苷[[草苷B（3），C（4）和D（5）]为主要成分，28位无糖部分的皂苷为[βvulgarosidesII（10）和IV（11）]为主要成分，以及这些皂苷的混合物。从含有10和11的样品制备的汤中作为主要的皂苷，其含量与水提取物相比大大减少。由于在加热水提取物形成的沉淀物中发现大量这些皂苷，这些皂苷似乎在加热下沉淀出来。当被用于提取热水，3，4和5分别从甚至其水提取物不含有这些皂甙的样品进行检测。这归因于抑制内源性酯酶的作用，该酶水解了28位的酯键。当用1级丁醇试剂提取皂角苷时，除了减少高极性皂苷的量外，氧化脱羧3和10发生导致分别形成了苦杏仁苷E（6）和菠菜糖苷D（12）。由于使用不超过5 ppm的过氧化物杂质的HPLC级1-丁醇未观察到这些变化，因此该变化可归因于试剂级1-丁醇中所含的过氧化物杂质。