Qualitative and quantitative determination of main alkaloids of Chelidonium majus L. using thin-layer chromatographic-densitometric method

We present a new simple thin-layer chromatographic method designed for determination of the main alkaloids of Chelidonium majus L. In this study, we used roots and herb of the plant collected in spring and autumn. The alkaloid fractions were prepared according to modified pharmacopeial procedure [1]. In our method, we performed two-step elution onto silica gel plates. The first eluent consisted of chloroform, methanol, and water mixed with 70:30:4 proportion. The second eluent comprised of toluene, ethyl acetate, and methanol with 83:15:2 proportion. The described thin-layer chromatography (TLC) system allows qualitative and quantitative determination of the following alkaloids: sanguinarine, chelerythrine, chelidonine, coptisine, and berberine. For determination of protopine, eluent with n -buthanol, acetic acid, and water in 15:1.5:4 proportion was investigated. The dominant alkaloids observed in studied fractions were coptisine (1027.096 ± 13.367–287.474 ± 3.069 mg/100 g dry matter ± sdv) and chelidonine (1780.667 ± 263.522– 115.929 ± 14.694 mg/100 g dry matter ± sdv). The alkaloid detected in the least amount was chelerythrine (30.74 ± 7.526–1.143 ± 0.0651 mg/100 g dry matter ± sdv). The highest total amount of all alkaloids was determined in the fractions obtained from herbs in spring, and the lowest amount was detected in herbs autumn. Additionally, we compared amounts of studied alkaloids in different parts of plants (aerial parts and roots). The plants were collected in spring and autumn. Authors concluded that the presented method can be used as a valuable tool for screening studies on C. majus L.