Fast-Ion Bombardment Mass-Spectrometry Of Sanguinarine And Coptisine From Chelidonium-Majus L Callus Cells

This paper reports the identification of sanguinarine and coptisine isolated from the crude extract of callus culture of Chelidonium majus by positive fast ion bombardment (FIB+) mass spectrometry (MS) and FIB+ tandem mass spectrometry (MS-MS). Callus was cultivated on Gamborg B5 medium for three weeks at 25-degrees-C and extracted with 70% ethanol. The alkaloids were extracted into chloroform, following ion pair formation, and then separated on a silica gel column. The presence of sanguinarine and coptisine was initially determined from chromatographic analysis, and the structures of the compounds were confirmed by MS. MS-MS analysis was not suitable for coptisine since this compound did not produce daughter ions.