A new water-soluble polysaccharide from Echinops pungens Trautv roots. Part I. Isolation, purification, characterization and antioxidant activity.

EPPS, a new heteropolysaccharide from Echinops pungens roots, was extracted by warm water (70 °C) and fortuitously purified using column chromatographies on DEAE-cellulose A52 and Sephadex G-100. Total carbohydrate content, specific optical rotation and molecular mass of EPPS were 98.3%, -88.