Determination of Scopolamine by Gas Chromatography from Different Parts of the Datura innoxia Biomass

Abstract

Tropane alkaloids are characteristic secondary metabolites which occurred mainly in Solanaceae plant family. Among them, hyoscine or scopolamine is one of the predominant in the Datura species, occurring in all plant organs (vegetative and reproductive). Because of its medical use and toxic properties, a rapid, convenient and reliable method is essential for the quantification of scopolamine content of plant biomass. The aim of this study was to elaborate a rapid method for determination of scopolamine from Datura innoxia, using Soxhlet extraction and quantification by gas-cromatography with flame ionization detection. Scopolamine content was investigated in plant organs (leaves, flowers, fruits, stem end root) of Datura innoxia collected in the maturity period from a country side region from Romania. Scopolamine was found in all organs examined. The results revealed that, concentration of scopolamine extracted in ethanol followed the order: root ] seeds ] flowers ] stem ] leaves. Higher extraction efficiency of scopolamine was found for 1-butanol compared to ethanol, and the order of concentration was: flowers ] seeds ] leaves ] stem ] root. Scopolamine content showed differences indicating that it is influenced by: 1) plant biomass as place of growing, plant species, plant organ and 2) extraction process efficiency based on polarity of the solvent, extraction time and sample - solvent ratio. The results show clear evidence that, the highest scopolamine content was found in 1-butanolic extracts and lowest in ethanolic extracts.