Fluorimetric determination of amide alkaloids

ABSTRACT

A simple rapid and sensitive fluorimetric method based on the concensation of the amide function alkaloids with malonic acid and acetic anhydride was developed for the determination of physostigmine and ergometrine. The strong fluorescence of the reaction mixture had maximum emission at 493 nm using 391 nm as an excitation maximum. Beer's Lambort law was valid over the concentration range of 0.5-3.5 x 10-7 mug/ml of the alkaloidal base. Mean% recoveries were 103.7 +/- 2.3 and 100.7 +/- 2.6 for physostigmine and ergometrine, respectively. The method was successfully applied for the determination of the alkaloids in dosage forms. The results were in agreement with those of other reported methods: