What is beta-sitosterol?
β-sitosterol is one of the phytosterols, which belongs to tetracyclic tri-terpenoids, and is widely found in nature in various plant oils, nuts and other plant seeds, as well as in some botanical medicines. It is white scaly, needle-like crystals or crystalline powder, odourless, tasteless.Mp136-140°C. It is very soluble in chloroform and carbon disulfide. Extremely soluble in chloroform and carbon disulfide, slightly soluble in ethanol or acetone, insoluble in water. β-sitosterol is more frequently used in the pharmaceutical industry for its unique biological and physicochemical properties.
CAS: 83-46-5
Molecule formula: C29H50O
Molecule weight: 414.72
Melting point: 136-140 °C
Test method: HPLC
Production Method:
Rice bran oil offal as raw material
Raw material treatment: take the methane soap residue at a constant temperature of 80 ℃ below the oven drying, so that the moisture content is less than 2%, get dry soap residue, small particles or powder.
Extraction: take the dry soap residue into the enamel reaction tank, add acetone (V soap residue: V acetone = 1:8) stirring, jacketed distillation steam heating, reflux extraction at 50-55 ° C 3-4h, cooled to 30 ° C discharge at 10-15 ° C, 12h, filtration, the filtrate.
Concentration, crystallisation, drying: the filtrate into the concentration tank, concentrated to 1/5 of the original volume, get the concentrate, room temperature crystallisation 12h, filtration, get the crude product, 60 ℃ oven drying, get dry crude product.
Decolourisation, crystallisation, drying: take the dried crude product and add 25-30 times 95% ethanol, add hydrochloric acid to adjust pH3-4, heat the water bath, make the crude product dissolved, add 10-20g/L activated charcoal micro-boiling for 20min, filter it while hot, get the filtrate, leave it at room temperature for crystallisation for 12h, wait for the crystals to be precipitated more completely, filter it and collect the crystallised product, dry it in vacuum at 80°C or below to get the finished product of steroidal alcohol.
Function:
1.Low cholesterol levels
Beta-sitosterol might help reduce cholesterol levels by limiting the amount of cholesterol that is able to enter the body. It can also help reduce swelling in the prostate and other tissues.
2.Prevent heart disease.
Eating foods that contain at least 3.4 grams of plant sterols daily as part of a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet might help prevent heart disease.
Adverse reaction:
For those who are intolerant to steroid may cause gastrointestinal adverse reactions related to gastrointestinal flatulence, faecal discolouration, changes in appetite, indigestion.
Application:
1.Pharmacutical and functional supplements
Sterols are a group of physiologically active substances used in the pharmaceutical industry to promote wound healing, muscle growth and capillary circulation.
As a phytosterol, β-sitosterol has cholesterol-lowering, cough-relieving, expectorant and tissue-repairing effects, so it can be used to replace cholesterol as a liposome membrane material for functional foods.
2.Cosmetic products
β-sitosterol belongs to phytosterols, inhibit the activity of metalloproteinases, showing obvious anti-inflammatory properties, can be used for the treatment of skin ulcers and skin tumours; β-sitosterol has anti-oxidant properties and other properties, and vitamins and nutrients used in skincare products, there is a conditioning effect, can slow down and treatment of keratinisation of the skin, to maintain the skin's silky smoothness and moisture; can be used in lipstick, can not only improve the uniformity of the lipstick, the use of silky soft feeling; β-sitosterol is easy to form liposomes with the lecithin and so on, it will facilitate the transdermal penetration of the gluten sterol; gluten sterol can also be used as a skin whitening agent
3.Feed industry
In animal production, the scientific use of phytosterols can promote the growth of animals, improve the health of the organism, improve the quality of livestock products, and play a positive role in reducing the cost of breeding and improving economic benefits. As a functional additive, phytosterols have a broad application prospect in the feed industry.
Development prospect for β-sitosterol
According to the "China Phytosterols (Plant Sterols) Industry Market Depth Research and Development Prospect Forecast Report, 2022-2027" released by Xinsiye Industry Research Centre, phytosterols can be widely used in the fields of pharmaceuticals, healthcare products, food, feed, cosmetics, etc. In 2021, the global phytosterols market size was about USD 890 million; it is expected that from 2022 to 2027, the global phytosterols market will grow at a CAGR of about 8.9%, and the market size will reach USD 1.48 billion by 2027.
The important downstream market of phytosterols is pharmaceuticals, phytosterols can be prepared using biofermentation technology androstenedione, androstenedion
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