Achiral and chiral determination of benzophenanthridine alkaloids from methanol extracts ofhylomecon species by high performance liquid chromatography

A high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method was developed for the qualitative and quantitative determination of benzophenanthridine alkaloids from the methanol extracts ofHylomecon hylomeconoides andH. vernale (Papaveraceae). Achiral and chiral methods were adapted for the separation of 6-methoxydihydrosanguinarine (1), 6-acetonyldihydrosanguinarine (2) and dihydrosanguinarine (3). The achiral reversed phase HPLC method made it possible the simultaneous separation and determination of1, 2 and3 within 20 min on ODS column using acetonitrile-phosphate buffer (50 mM, pH 7.0) (50 : 50, v/v). The separation and determination of1 and2 enantiomers was available using chiral columns. The same amount of (+) and (-)-enantiomers of1 was found from the methanol extract of specimen, indicated that 1 could be the artifact produced by the reaction of sanguinarine with methanol.H. hylomeconoides showed higher level of1 and3 in compared withH. vernale, especially in root samples permitting the possibility of chemical discrimination between two species.