Extraction and determination of morphinane alkaloids from different parts of three Papaver species in the flowering stage using HPLC

Medicinal plants are rich sources of secondary metabolites. Among these metabolites، alkaloids are an important group. Papaver bracteatum Lindl.، Papaver orientale L. and Papaver fugex Poir are medicinal plants from Papaveraceae family. Medicinal characteristic of these plants depend on their capability to produce and biosynthesis of benzophenanthridine alkaloids which are a sub-group of isoquinoline alkaloids. Morphinanes (morphine، codeine and thebaine) are a class of isoquinoline alkaloids with different functionality in medicine. Due to the importance of morphinanes in clinical and pharmacology fields، identification and extraction of these compounds from natural sources are a necessity. In this study، the plants were collected in the first stage of flowering. Sonicator and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were used for extracting and determining of the morphinanes، respectively. UV-Spectrophotometer was also used to determine total alkaloids. The results showed that high amounts of thebaine alkaloid were found in three studied plants. Codeine content was lower than other alkaloids; however the distribution of these alkaloids was dissimilar in different parts of the plants. According to the results، the highest total alkaloid content was found in capsules and roots of Papaver bracteatum L. and Papaver orientale L.، while shoot of Papaver fugax Poir. contained.