Determination of Sugar Compounds in Olive Plant Extracts by Anion-Exchange Chromatography with Pulsed Amperometric Detection

Abstract

We describe a chromatographic method that uses isocratic elution and pulsed amperometric detection to determine soluble carbohydrates in plant tissues. Such a method provides a rapid and convenient means to obtain a complete profile of the sugar components of leaves and roots from olive (Olea europaea L. cv. Coratina) plants. A simple purification of plant extracts using pure water was developed, which is far less time-consuming and retains a high level of accuracy. Excellent separation of myo-inositol, galactinol, mannitol, galactose, glucose, fructose, sucrose, raffinose, and stachyose was achieved with an anion-exchange column and 12 mM NaOH spiked with 1 mM barium acetate as an eluent. At a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min, the time of analysis was less than 25 min, and repeatability of the method on the order of 2.2% as RSD or better for retention times and lower than 5.2% for peak areas. Recoveries approximated 100% (range 97.2-104.5%), and the method provided good precision with a coefficient of variation which ranged between 0.9 and 3.3%. Among identified carbohydrates extracted from leaves and roots of olive plants, glucose and mannitol were major compounds. Their molar ratio was estimated to be 1.2+/-0.1 and 2.2+/-0.3 for olive leaves and roots, respectively. The occurrence of soluble galactinol in plant tissues was also validated.

Characterization of Sicilian Olive Genotypes by Multivariate Analysis of Leaf and Fruit Chemical and Morphological Properties

“…The relatively low amount of sucrose compared to mannitol, especially in leaf tissues, suggests that sucrose in olive trees is an initial product of photosynthesis mainly translocated from sources to sinks, and does not play a significant role as an osmolite or storage compound, at least in leaves. Low leaf sucrose was also reported by Tattini, Gucci, Romani, Baidi, & Everard (1996) and Cataldi et al (2000). In leaf, NOE and PC had above average sucrose, whereas OM had below average sucrose (Figure 2A).…”

The olive tree: a paradigm for drought tolerance in Mediterranean climates

“…In fact, the contribution of passive π represents approximately 60% of the total osmotic adjustment, while the remaining 40% is due to active π (Table 3). The ex-novo synthesis of osmolytes takes place in both leaves and roots of the olive tree and regards mainly carbohydrates and the aminoacid proline (Cataldi et al, 2000). Extracts of leaves and roots of well-watered olive revealed that the most predominant carbohydrates are mannitol and glucose, which account for more than 80% of the total soluble carbohydrates.…”

Ion-Exchange Chromatography and Its Applications

“…myo-inositol, galactinol, mannitol, galactose, glucose, fructose, sucrose, raffinose and stachyose [20]. …”