Selection of a Suitable Solvent System for the Isolation of Toxicologically Active Components of an African Arrow Poison of Plant Origin

Abstract

The efficiency of different solvent systems in the isolation of toxicologically active components of an african arrow poison of plant origin was investigated. The solvent systems were: deionized water? acetonitrile; acetonitrile/water (9:1), gradient elution with carbon tetrachloride/chloroform (10–50%): gradient elution with sodium chloride (0.02M) acetonitrile (45–95%) and; methanol/de-ionized water (98:2) and; chloroform and carbon tetrachloride (10–50%) gradient elution. The gradient elution with sodium chloride (0.02M)/ acetonitrile (45–95%) gave the best separation of four distinct peaks suggesting the presence of at least four components in the arrow poison. Deionized water eluted the arrow poison from the column in one single fraction, whose peak height was linearly related to the amount of toxin (0.02 – 20.0 jag) suggesting that HPLC might also be useful in quantifying the toxin and/or its active components.