diff --git a/packages/elements/src/extract-projectable-nodes.ts b/packages/elements/src/extract-projectable-nodes.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b6df05bcba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/elements/src/extract-projectable-nodes.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+/**
+ * @license
+ * Copyright Google Inc. All Rights Reserved.
+ *
+ * Use of this source code is governed by an MIT-style license that can be
+ * found in the LICENSE file at https://angular.io/license
+ */
+
+// NOTE: This is a (slightly improved) version of what is used in ngUpgrade's
+//       `DowngradeComponentAdapter`.
+// TODO(gkalpak): Investigate if it makes sense to share the code.
+
+import {isElement, matchesSelector} from './utils';
+
+export function extractProjectableNodes(host: HTMLElement, ngContentSelectors: string[]): Node[][] {
+  const nodes = host.childNodes;
+  const projectableNodes: Node[][] = ngContentSelectors.map(() => []);
+  let wildcardIndex = -1;
+
+  ngContentSelectors.some((selector, i) => {
+    if (selector === '*') {
+      wildcardIndex = i;
+      return true;
+    }
+    return false;
+  });
+
+  for (let i = 0, ii = nodes.length; i < ii; ++i) {
+    const node = nodes[i];
+    const ngContentIndex = findMatchingIndex(node, ngContentSelectors, wildcardIndex);
+
+    if (ngContentIndex !== -1) {
+      projectableNodes[ngContentIndex].push(node);
+    }
+  }
+
+  return projectableNodes;
+}
+
+function findMatchingIndex(node: Node, selectors: string[], defaultIndex: number): number {
+  let matchingIndex = defaultIndex;
+
+  if (isElement(node)) {
+    selectors.some((selector, i) => {
+      if ((selector !== '*') && matchesSelector(node, selector)) {
+        matchingIndex = i;
+        return true;
+      }
+      return false;
+    });
+  }
+
+  return matchingIndex;
+}
diff --git a/packages/elements/test/extract-projectable-nodes_spec.ts b/packages/elements/test/extract-projectable-nodes_spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9d79760916
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/elements/test/extract-projectable-nodes_spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+/**
+ * @license
+ * Copyright Google Inc. All Rights Reserved.
+ *
+ * Use of this source code is governed by an MIT-style license that can be
+ * found in the LICENSE file at https://angular.io/license
+ */
+
+import {extractProjectableNodes} from '../src/extract-projectable-nodes';
+
+export function main() {
+  describe('extractProjectableNodes()', () => {
+    let elem: HTMLElement;
+    let childNodes: NodeList;
+
+    const expectProjectableNodes = (matches: {[selector: string]: number[]}) => {
+      const selectors = Object.keys(matches);
+      const expected = selectors.map(selector => {
+        const matchingIndices = matches[selector];
+        return matchingIndices.map(idx => childNodes[idx]);
+      });
+
+      expect(extractProjectableNodes(elem, selectors)).toEqual(expected);
+    };
+    const test = (matches: {[selector: string]: number[]}) => () => expectProjectableNodes(matches);
+
+    beforeEach(() => {
+      elem = document.createElement('div');
+      elem.innerHTML = '<div class="foo" first="">' +
+          '<span class="bar"></span>' +
+          '</div>' +
+          '<span id="bar"></span>' +
+          '<!-- Comment -->' +
+          'Text' +
+          '<blink class="foo" id="quux"></blink>' +
+          'More text';
+      childNodes = Array.prototype.slice.call(elem.childNodes);
+    });
+
+    it('should match each node to the corresponding selector', test({
+         '[first]': [0],
+         '#bar': [1],
+         '#quux': [4],
+       }));
+
+    it('should ignore non-matching nodes', test({
+         '.zoo': [],
+       }));
+
+    it('should only match top-level child nodes', test({
+         'span': [1],
+         '.bar': [],
+       }));
+
+    it('should support complex selectors', test({
+         '.foo:not(div)': [4],
+         'div + #bar': [1],
+       }));
+
+    it('should match each node with the first matching selector', test({
+         'div': [0],
+         '.foo': [4],
+         'blink': [],
+       }));
+
+    describe('(with wildcard selector)', () => {
+      it('should match non-element nodes to `*` (but still ignore comments)', test({
+           'div,span,blink': [0, 1, 4],
+           '*': [2, 3, 5],
+         }));
+
+      it('should match otherwise unmatched nodes to `*`', test({
+           'div,blink': [0, 4],
+           '*': [1, 2, 3, 5],
+         }));
+
+      it('should give higher priority to `*` (eve if it appears first)', test({
+           '*': [2, 3, 5],
+           'div,span,blink': [0, 1, 4],
+         }));
+    });
+  });
+}