Artefact formation during acid hydrolysis of saponins from Medicago spp

Artefact compounds obtained during acid hydrolysis of saponins from Medicago spp. (Fabaceae), have been monitored and evaluated by GC-FID. Their identification has been performed by GC-MS and ¹H and ¹³C NMR. Saponins with different substituents on the triterpenic pentacyclic aglycones were considered, and their hydrolysis products were detected and quantified during 10 h of time course reaction. From soyasapogenol B glycoside the well known soyasapogenols B, C, D and F were obtained together with a previously undescribed sapogenol artefact identified as 3β,22β,24-trihydroxyolean-18(19)-en and named soyasapogenol H. From a zanhic acid saponin two major artefact compounds identified as 2β,3β,16α-trihydroxyolean-13(18)-en-23,28-dioic acid and 2β,3β,16α-trihydroxyolean-28,13β-olide-23-oic acid were obtained, together with some zanhic acid. Other compounds, detected in very small amount in the reaction mixture, were also tentatively identified based on their GC-MS and UV spectra. The other most characteristic saponins in Medicago spp., hederagenin, bayogenin and medicagenic acid glycosides, under acidic condition of hydrolysis, released instead the correspondent aglycones and generated a negligible amount of artefacts. Nature of artefacts and mechanism of their formation, involving a stable tertiary carbocation, is here proposed and discussed for the first time.