Inulin

Inulin is a reserve polysaccharide in plants, mainly derived from plants, and more than 36,000 species have been found. Including 11 families such as Asteraceae, Campanulaceae and Gentianaceae in dicotyledonous plants and Liliaceae and Gramineae in monocotyledonous plants. For example, inulin is rich in Jerusalem artichoke, chicory tuber, geranium (Darley chrysanthemum) root, and thistle root, among which Jerusalem artichoke has the highest inulin content.

The inulin molecule is composed of about 31 β-D-fructofuranose and 1~2 inulin pyranoside residues, and the fructose residues can be connected by β-2,1-bonds. It is a linear straight-chain polysaccharide linked by D-fructose through β (1→2) glycosidic bonds, often with a glucose residue at the end, and the degree of polymerization (DP) is 2~60, of which the average degree of polymerization DP≤9 Inulin, also known as short-chain inulin, contains both long-chain and short-chain inulin extracted from natural plants. The molecular formula of inulin is expressed as GFn, where G represents the terminal glucose unit, F represents the fructose molecule, and n represents the number of fructose units.