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Clinical pharmacy PharmD program Third level Phytochemistry-1 (PG-504)

Saponins Glycosides

• Saponins are a group of glycosides

• readily soluble in water, , i.e., they modify surface tension.

• form lasting foam when shaken in aqueous solutions.

• They are excellent emulsifying agents.

• and the aqueous solutions of some of them were formerly used as detergents to
replace soap (e.g. quillaia)

• They form colloidal solutions with water.

Properties:

Saponins have hemolytic properties. as they precipitate the cholesterol and/or the
lecithin that exist in the membranes of the red blood corpuscles and thus
haemoglobin is liberated.

So, saponins are extremely toxic when injected into the blood stream. However,
they are not harmful when taken orally, as they are not absorbed from the
intestinal tract.

Saponins are two well-known types:

- Steroidal saponins. Or - Triterpenoidal saponin.

Both types of saponins have the glycosidic linkage at position 3

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