Glycosides are active ingredients characterized by a sugar part associated with a heterogeneous molecule, called aglycone; it is an extremely varied category, which can be classified on the basis of the chemical nature of the aglycone.
The extraction from glycosidic drugs, applied in a different way according to the more or less polar properties of the aglycone, can be summarized in the following phases:
1: percolation or maceration in aqueous or hydroalcoholic solution (generally it is assumed that a molecule with a sugar component is soluble in water);
2: more specific and variable extraction method based on the polar properties of the aglycone. For example, a precipitation with the salt of a heavy metal, such as lead acetate, can be adopted to precipitate compounds rather than others. a physical separation of the components, which must be centrifuged to be isolated.
There are so many glycosidic drugs, as are the possible aglycones, that it is not possible to define a precise extraction phase.
The extraction mode chosen in step 2 can be repeated several times to further select the chemical class of interest.
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