FLUOROMETRIC DETECTION AFTER LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHIC SEPARATION OF BENZOPHENANTHRIDINE ALKALOIDS OBTAINED FROM CULTURED-CELLS

The detection by fluorimetry after liquid chromatographic (LC) separation of benzophenanthridine alkaloids extracted from Papaveraceae sp. cell culture samples was characterized and optimized. Maximum fluorescence was observed at 225 nm excitation and 410 nm emission wavelengths for most alkaloids studied (chelirubine, sanguinarine, chelerythrine, chelilutine, sanguilutine, sanguirubine and norsanguinarine). Under these conditions, the detection limits varied from 0.1 to 0.7 ng. The low detection limits and selectivity of fluorescence detection allowed alkaloids to be quantified by LC in crude cell extracts and medium samples obtained from different cultures without any pretreatment. The relative standard deviation of the LC method varied from 1.0 to 2.6% for the alkaloids assessed.