ABSTRACT
Alkaloidsareoftendefinedasthosebasicsubstanceswhichcontainoneormorenitrogenatoms,usually incombinationaspartofacyclicsystem. 1-9Plantalkaloidsareoftenbittertothetasteandareavery heterogenousgroup.Manyalkaloidsareterpenoids,butsomearearomaticcompounds.Alkaloidsare frequentlyclassifiedonthebasisoftheringstructurethattheypossess(Figure15.1).Thechemical characteristicsandpossiblefunctionsofalkaloidsinplantsarepresentedinTable15.1.Asummaryof thedistribution,chemistry,andpharmacologicaleffectsofplantalkaloidsispresentedinTable15.2.
Alkaloidscanbeextractedfromplanttissuewithaceticacidinethanol.Protocol15.1summarizes anextraction,purification,andcharacterizationprotocol.Table15.3displaysreagentswhichare usefulinthealkaloidcharacterization.Thin-layerchromatographies,gas,andhigh-speedliquid chromatographiesarebeneficialforcharacterizingalkaloids.Otheranalyticalinstrumentalmethodologiesincludeinfraredspectroscopy,solidprobemassspectrometry,nuclearmagneticresonance,andradioimmunoassay.Originalliteraturecitationsdetailingtheprotocolsforthese analyticalproceduresoccurinHarbome,3Robinson,7andLinskensandJackson.4
