Researchers from Key Laboratory of Chemistry of Northwestern Plant Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, have made an invention relates to a method for extracting linseed gum and secoisolariciresin-ol diglucoside (SDG) from linseed or linseed mdal. They received a Chinese invention patent for the technique on October 19, 2011. The patent is No. ZL200810184476.X.

The method simultaneously extracts the flaxseed gum and the SDG with an extraction method with aqueous alkaline solution under room temperature and completes the extraction and the basic hydrolysis of the SDG at one step. Then, by means of ethanol precipiration, macroporous absorption resin separation and alcohol or carbinol resolution, the high-purity SDG and the linseed gum can be obtained.

Compared with approaches which extract the flaxseed gum and the SDG respectively and approaches with which the extraction and the basic hydrolysis of the SDG are acvhieved respectively, the newly developed method shows many advantages, such as simplified operation and reduction of raw materials. Moreover, with the method, the extraction can be achieved without heating and using of alcohol solution or ultrasound or other special equipment, which reduces the cost and makes the method applicable to mass production.

Faxseed gum, found in linseed, is a kind of green food additive listed by the China Green Food Development Center. It is rich in nutritional ingredients, has strong adhesion and water absorption, good emulsifying effectiveness and can absorb and detoxificate heavy metal. Due to these properties, it has been widely used in food processing enterprises, daily chemical and pharmacy enterprises.

Lignin is a kind of plant estrogen. Linseed is rich in lignin. Among the compounds of lignin, SDG is the most important. It weighs 0.9~1.5% of the total weight of linseed, which is 100-800 times higher than the known 66 foods containing lignin.