Quillaja quality

摘要

Many plants contain saponins, a wide category of natural surfactants. Their industrial application is growing, firstly under the pressure of the green wave, but also for their specific properties, which differentiate them from common synthetic surfactants.The Quillaja saponaria (soapbark tree) saponins, extracted from the plant growing in arid areas of Chile, exhibit surfactant properties because of their lipophilic triterpenoid structure, with side chains of hydrophilic carbohydrates. Quillaja (synonym: bois de Panama) extracts are obtained by aqueous extraction of the milled inner bark or wood of pruned stems and branches of Quillaja saponaria Molina (family Rosaceae).