Sapogenin(Aglycone) is a nonsugar portion of a saponin that is typically obtained by hydrolysis, has either a complex terpenoid or a steroid structure and in the latter case forms a practicable starting point in the synthesis of steroid hormones. Sapogenin can be simply defined as the following equation:

Saponin = Sugar(glycone) + Sapogenin

Recently, sapogenin has attracted a great deal of attention to its potential efficacies, and has been widely used in many countries. Dammarane sapogenins are a group of compounds found in plants, especially in araliaceous plants. The chemical structure of dammarane sapogenins is like a tetracyclic terpene of the dammarane series (see Figure). While plants (such as ginseng) containing those compounds have been extensively used for medical purpose in China and other Asian countries for thousands of years. More...