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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stoneville, Mississippi » Crop Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #237192
Title: Application of Derivatization Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry for the Identification and Quantitation of Pinitol in Plant Roots

Author
item GARLAND, SHAUN - UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
item GOHEEN, STEVE - BATTELLE,PACIFIC NW LAB
item Donald, Patricia
item CAMPBELL, JAMES - BATTELLE,PACIFIC NW LAB

Submitted to: Analytical Letters
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/17/2009
Publication Date: 9/11/2009
Citation: Garland, S., Goheen, S., Donald, P.A., Campbell, J. 2009. Application of Derivatization Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry for the Identification and Quantitation of Pinitol in Plant Roots. Analytical Letters. 42:2096-2105.

Interpretive Summary: Pinitol plays different roles in a variety of plants including stress tolerance to salt and drought, radical scavenging, and enzyme stability. The compound is thought to occur in all legumes and is used as a human nutritional supplement for treatment of diabetes. Quick reliable techniques are needed to determine the presence and amount of pinitol in plants if it is to be used widely for treatment of diabetes. This research presents a technique to detect and quantify pinitol using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry.

Technical Abstract: Pinitol (D-3-O-methyl-chiro-inositol), a cyclitol, has a variety of roles in plant biology and is being used as a nutritional supplement. These applications increase the importance of finding new methods for determining the pinitol content in plant tissues. A reliable method for the identification and quantitation of pinitol using trimethylsilyl imidazole (TMSI) derivatization and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) was developed. One major ion fragment, m/z 260, was used to quantify pinitol in three plant species. Soybean roots contained approximately 1.9 mg/g wet weight pinitol while levels in sugar beet and snap bean roots were below detection limits.