Wj. Jankowski et T. Chojnacki, THE OCCURRENCE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF LONG-CHAIN POLYPRENOLS FROM LEAVES OF SAPINDACEAE, Journal of plant physiology, 147(3-4), 1995, pp. 289-293
A number of species of the Sapindaceae family, characteristic for trop
ical flora mainly of South East Asia were found to contain large amoun
ts of C-50-75-polyprenols in leaves. C-60-, C-65- and C-70-polyprenols
accumulated in leaves of Nephelium litchii and Euphoria longean were
isolated, purified and analyzed by mass spectrometry and nuclear magne
tic resonance spectrometry. Their structure was found to be of the tri
-trans-poly-cis type similar to that of C-55- and C-60-polyprenols occ
urring in most angiosperm plants. They differ from the polyprenols of
the same chain length isolated from gymnosperm plant (Picea abies) whi
ch were confirmed to be di-trans-poly-cis-prenols. The presence of C-6
0-70-polyprenols in leaves is the characteristic chemotaxonomic marker
for the majority of studied species of Sapindaceae family.