Rapid Method for Determination of Galanthamine in Amaryllidaceae Plants Using HPLC

Abstract

A method for rapid qualitative and quantitative determination of galanthamine in Amaryllidaceae plants using reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography has been developed. The use of 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) in water as the extraction solvent provides an HPLC‐ready sample, which makes this method simple and efficient. The separation was achieved by a system consisting of a reversed phase C₁₈ small pore (100 Å) column and TFA:water:acetonitrile (0.01:95:5 v/v/v) as the mobile phase. Ephedrine is a suitable internal standard.

Keywords:

• Galanthamine
• Bulbs
• Amaryllidaceae
• Narcissus “Pipit” (Jonquilla)
• Acid extraction
• HPLC‐PDA
• Quantitative analysis

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank Dr. Rob van der Heijden for fruitful discussions and F. Leenen B.V. for providing the plant materials used in this study. Financial support of the Van Leersumfonds (KNAW) is gratefully acknowledged.