Determination of the main tropane alkaloids from transformed Hyoscyamus muticus plants by capillary zone electrophoresis

A capillary zone electrophoretic method (CZE) was developed using an uncoated fused silica capillary for the separation and determination of the main tropane alkaloids. The applicability of the developed method for analysis of plant samples was examined by analyzing samples of transgenic Egyptian henbane Hyoscyamus muticus (L.) plants. A simple 40 mM phosphate buffer at pH 7.8 using a voltage of 20 kV was found the best for this purpose. The main tropane alkaloids, atropine and scopolamine as well as nor-(-)-scopolamine, and tropic acid, the precursor of tropane alkaloids, could be separated in less than 13 min. The linear concentration range for atropine was 5.00-140 mu g ml(-1), for scopolamine 7.50-210 mu g ml(-1) and for tropic acid 2.50-70.0 mu g ml(-1). (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.