Identification and quantitative determination of carbohydrates in ethanolic extracts of two conifers using 13C NMR spectroscopy

We developed a method for the direct identification and quantification of carbohydrates in raw vegetable extracts using C-13 NMR spectroscopy without any preliminary step of precipitation or reduction of the components. This method has been validated (accuracy, precision and response linearity) using pure compounds and artificial mixtures before being applied to authentic ethanolic extracts of pine needles, pine wood and pine cones and fir twigs. We determined that carbohydrates represented from 15% to 35% of the crude extracts in which pinitol was the principal constituent accompanied by arabinitol, mannitol, glucose and fructose. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.