Gas chromatography-mass spectrometric analysis of oxidative degradation products of sporopollenin inMagnolia grandiflora (Magnoliaceae) andHibiscus syriacus (Malvaceae)

Abstract

Sporopollenin can be dissolved in water by oxidative degradation with using potassium permanganate (KMnO₄). in mature pollen grain ofMagnolia grandiflora andHibiscus syriacus some organic compounds were extracted from the aqueous phase into hexane, and analyzed by using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The analysis shows that the extracted compounds Include some organosilicon compounds. By researching of mass spectra data base, the organosillicon compounds are suggested as 1, 1, 1, 5, 7, 7, 7-heptamethyl-3,3-bis(trimethylsilox))tetrasiloxane and 1, 1, 1, 3, 5, 7, 7, 7-octamethyl-3, 3- bis(trimethylsiloxy)tetrasiloxane. 1,2-benzendicarboxylic acid butyl 2-ethylhexyl ester is also suggested by data base research in the extracted compounds. The present study implies that silicon (Si) is considered to be located in inner part of three dimensional structure of sporopollenin.