Isolation and Characterization of Steviols from Stevia Rebaudiana

Stevia rebaudiana is a member of the Compositae, native to Paraguay. It produces a number of high potency low calorie sweeteners in its leaf tissue. The sweeteners are diterpene glycosides and range between 30 and 320 times sweeter than sugar. Increasing consumer interest in natural food ingredients means that products like stevia sweeteners will be subject to increasing demand. In the present work attempt was made to isolate stevioside and steviolbioside from the dried leaves of Stevia in its purest form. These two steviol glycosides were isolated by using the normal phase column chromatography and quantified by the HPLC and characterized by the spectroscopic techniques (NMR and LC-MS).