High performance liquid chromatography quadrupole ion trap and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry studies of polyhydroxyalkaloids in bluebells

✍ Scribed by Martin J. Egan; Elaine A. Porter; Geoffrey C. Kite; Monique S. J. Simmonds; James Barker; Sían Howells

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 97 KB
• Volume: 13
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0951-4198
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0231(19990228)13:4<195::aid-rcm433>3.0.co;2-d

✦ Synopsis

A crudely purified polyhydroxyalkaloid (PHA) extract of Hyacinthoides non-scripta (Hyacinthaceae) was studied by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), liquid chromatography/sequential mass spectrometry (LC/MS n ) and direct infusion atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation-mass spectrometry (APCI-MS) to determine the best method for screening plant extracts for PHAs. Direct infusion was determined to be the technique of choice to carry out rapid screening, whereas LC/MS has the potential to reveal isomeric compounds with appropriate high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) separation, and we report here a successful HPLC separation of underivatised PHAs in a crude extract. The requirement to derivatise PHAs for GC/MS analysis was found to confuse screening due to the formation of multiple derivatives. Also, the electron ionization (EI) mass spectra were of limited diagnostic value and GC/ MS failed to detect high molecular weight PHA derivatives such as those of PHA-diglycosides. Two glycosides not previously reported in Hyacinthaceae were detected by direct infusion APCI-MS. Copyright