Isolation and identification of monosaccharide of Mucilage in Dragon's head by thin layer chromatography

Dragon's head (Lallemantia iberica F. & C. M.) an annual or perennial herb, or dwarf shrub that originates in the Caucasian region and was cultivated for ornament and may be domesticated in East and East Central Europe. Dragon head was cultivated for its seeds from which oil is extracted. The seed contains up to 30% of a drying oil. One of effective compounds in this plant is mucilage. Mucilage has different applications in the broad field of pharmacy and medicine now. Mucilage was extracted from dragon's head seed and was identified by using thin-layer chromatography. Method involves the following steps: first by extraction, purification, dialysis, lyophilization, deionization, hydrolyze and TLC analysis for choosing the best separation system, these separation systems were: 1- Silica gel G 60 HF plate using n- butanol: acid acetic: water (50:25:25 v/v) as mobile system. 2- Silica gel G 60 HF plate using chloroform: methanol (60:40 v/v) as solvent system. 3- Kieselguhr G plate using n- butanol: acetone: phosphoric acid (40:50:10 v/v) as mobile system. Finally, the best results achieved by using n-butanol: acetone: phosphoric acid (40:50:10 v/v) as mobile system on the Kieselguhr G plate as stationary phase. Lallemantia iberica mucilage was separated into seven spots. Mucilage of Lallemantia iberica seeds was composed of galacturonic acid, galactose, mannose, arabinose, xylose, glucose and rhamnose monosaccharide. This result is useful for more and better characterization of dragon's head mucilage for application in food industry.