Content of fatty acids and free carbohydrates in the underground organs of Eleutherococcus senticosus (Rupr. ET Maxim.) Maxim.)

Objective: determination of the qualitative and quantitative content of free fatty acids and free carbohydrates in various samples of Eleutherococcus raw materials collected in the Russian Far East. Materials and methods. The samples used for the study were rhizomes and roots of Eleutherococcus collected in the Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories, Amur and Jewish Autonomous Regions. The composition of the constituents was studied by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Results. In the samples analysed, 3 polyols (sugar alcohols), 6 sugars and 5 fatty acids were identified. The group of polyols identified includes arabitol, mannitol and inositol. From the group of fatty acids, palmitic, margaric, stearic, linoleic and oleic acids were identified. The carbohydrate group includes fructose, allose, glucose, cellobiose, sucrose and raffinose. The quantitative content was evaluated for each compound. In the fatty acid complex, the highest content was found for linoleic acid (1.15 mg/g). The dominant components of the carbohydrate complex were found to be sucrose and glucose with respective contents of 9.29 mg/g and 12.53 mg/g. The average content of total polyols was 1.29 mg/g, fatty acids - 2.01 mg/g and free carbohydrates - 29.51 mg/g. Significant variability was observed in the quantitative content not only of individual substances, but also in the sum of substances of different groups. The coefficients of variability of the content of individual substances ranged from 47 to 199%, and the amounts of fatty acids, polyols and free carbohydrates from 61 to 62%. Conclusion. Thus, presence of 3 polyols, 6 sugars and 5 fatty acids was detected. A quantitative assessment of their content and statistical processing of the data obtained were carried out. It has been shown that the quantitative content of the compounds in the samples studied is characterized by a significant variability.