An enzymatic process for the production of the pharmacologically active glycoside desglucodesrhamnoruscin from Ruscus aculeatus L.

The pharmacological properties of the extract of Ruscus aculeatus L. have been well established for many years now. The compounds which possess these properties are the steroid glycosides ruscin and ruscoside and their hydrolysis products desglucoruscin, desglucodesrhamnoruscin and desglucoruscoside. As the pharmacological action increases with the decrease of the amount of the sugar molecules, the plant extracts must be submitted to chemical or enzyme hydrolysis in order to obtain the most active compounds. In our laboratory, a bioconversion process to produce the monoglycoside desglucodesrhamnoruscin from dry extracts of the rhizome of R. aculeatus has been developed using enzyme preparations containing a beta -glucopyranosidase and an alpha -rhamnopyranosidase. Identifying the concentrations of substrate, enzyme and ethanol that are most advantageous for the bioconversion has optimized the process. The developed process gave a final product containing 19% of desglucodesrhamnoruscin. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.