Characterization of a novel polysaccharide purified from a herb of Cynomorium songaricum Rupr.

Cynomorium songaricum Rupr. (C. songaricum, Cynomoriaceae) is a food for local people and also a tonic in traditional Chinese medicine. As polysaccharide is an active component in it, it is great significant to study the structure. This research studied a new polysaccharide fraction purified from C. songaricum, named CSP-DS1 (Mw of 48.1 × 104 Da). The CSP-DS1 was investigated by chemical and instrumental analysis, including acid hydrolysis and methylation analysis, infrared spectra (IR), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) (1H, 13C, 1H–1H COSY, HMBC and HMQC). The results demonstrate that the CSP-DS1 is comprised of three kinds of monosaccharide: Man, Glc and Gal, in approximately mole ratios of 5.01: 89.17: 5.82. Based on characterization and analysis, its possible glucosidic linkage of the CSP-DS1 is also established.