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. 2015 Apr 20;16(4):8761-71.
doi: 10.3390/ijms16048761.

Chemicals from Agave sisalana biomass: isolation and identification

Jener David Gonçalves Santos  1 , Ivo Jose Curcino Vieira  2 , Raimundo Braz-Filho  3   4 , Alexsandro Branco  5
Affiliations

Chemicals from Agave sisalana biomass: isolation and identification

Jener David Gonçalves Santos et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Agave sisalana (sisal) is known worldwide as a source of hard fibers, and Brazil is the largest producer of sisal. Nonetheless, the process of removing the fibers of the sisal leaf generates 95% waste. In this study, we applied chemical sequential steps (hydrothermal extraction, precipitation, liquid-liquid extraction, crystallization, SiO2 and Sephadex LH 20 column chromatography) to obtain pectin, mannitol, succinic acid, kaempferol and a mixture of saponins as raw chemicals from sisal biomass. The structural identification of these compounds was performed though spectrometric methods, such as Infrared (IR), Ultraviolet (UV), Mass spectrometry (MS) and Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). All the sisal chemicals found in this work are used by both the chemical and pharmaceutical industries as excipients or active principles in products.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structure of the value-added compounds isolated from sisal waste: Pectin (1), Mannitol (2), Acid succinic (3), Kaempferol (4), Hecogenin (5) and Saponins (6).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Scheme to obtain chemicals from sisal biomass.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A) Chromatogram of flavonoid from sisal waste obtained through HPLC-DAD (365 nm); (B) UV spectra of peak at 15.7 min.
Figure 4
Figure 4
13C NMR spectrum of saponin-rich fraction (C5D5N, 125 MHz).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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