Studies on organic non-covalent binders of β-sitosterol

The β-sitosterol moiety was known to bind acyclic carotenoids phytoene and phytofluene. Recently it was reported that impurities of β-sitosterol from plant sources ruled out isolation from those sources. These studies showed that common β-sitosterol contained many impurities which can be separated by using a chromatotron. Studies also showed that β-sitosterol on binding to phytofluene quenched the latter’s fluorescence by forming a complex with log K_ass = 5.0 . This complex does not significantly alter the fine structure of the phytofluene IR spectrum indicating no significant distortion in the condensed phase.

Keywords: β-sitosterol, binders, phytofluene, quenching, fluorescence.

doi :10.4038/jnsfsr.v35i4.1311

J.Natn.Sci.Foundation Sri Lanka 2007 35 (4): 235-238