Iminocyclitols are chemically and metabolically stable, naturally occurring sugar mimetics. Their biological activities make them interesting and extremely promising as both drug leads and functional food ingredients. The first iminocyclitols were discovered using preparative isolation and purification methods followed by chemical characterization using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. In addition to this classical approach, gas and liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry are increasingly used; they are highly sensitive techniques capable of detecting minute amounts of analytes in a broad spectrum of sources after only minimal sample preparation. These techniques have been applied to identify new iminocyclitols in plants, microorganisms and synthetic mixtures. The separation of iminocyclitol mixtures by chromatography is particularly difficult however, as the most commonly used matrices have very low selectivity for these highly hydrophilic structurally similar molecules. This review critically summarizes recent advances in the analysis of iminocyclitols from plant sources and findings regarding their quantification in dietary supplements and foodstuffs, as well as in biological fluids and organs, from bioavailability studies.
Keywords: Analysis; Bioavailability; Deoxynojirimycin; Fagomine; Iminocyclitols; Iminosugars.
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