Simple enzyme reactors suitable for the byproduct-free preparation of the aglycones of naturally occurring glycosides under mild conditions

Naringinase from Penicillium species—containing α-l-rhamnosidase and β-d-glucosidase activity—immobilized on silicate carriers can be used as a mild and effective means to cleave naturally occurring glycosides into their aglycones and sugar components. The procedure was tested with flavonoid-, anthraquinone-, and steroidglycosides. Since the solubility of such compounds is limited in aqueous solutions, a simple batch procedure has been developed to convert solid substrates suspended in only small amounts of buffer to the desired products with high yields.