Soyasaponins are phytochemicals of major interest for health. Their identification and quantificationremain difficult owing to the large number of structural isomers in soybeans and the lack of stablestandards. In this study, a rapid method using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) usinga UV detector (205 nm) was developed to identify and quantify soyasaponins belonging to group Band compare them with isoflavones in different soy materials. 2,3-Dihydro-2,5-dihydroxy-6-methyl-4H-pyran-4-one (DDMP)-conjugated soyasaponins were determined using external calibration or amolecular mass ratio after alkaline hydrolysis to cleave their DDMP moieties. The detection limit ofsoyasaponin I, used as a reference molecule to simplify the analysis, was 0.065
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
mol/g. Soyasaponincontents in seven soybean varieties ranged from 13.20 to 42.40
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
mol/g in the germ and from 2.76to 6.43
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
mol/g in the cotyledons. The within-day and between-days variation coefficients did notexceed 7.9 and 9.0%, respectively, for the major soyasaponins. Soyasaponin B quantification indifferent soy-based health supplements was reported along with measurements of their isoflavonecontent to provide information on the variability of these bioactive compounds among different typesof soy food materials.Keywords: Soybean; soyasaponin; HPLC/UV