Abstract
In this paper, we report a case of misidentification of medicinal plants involving
dried petals of Papaver rhoeas (red poppy) contaminated with Papaver bracteatum (scarlet poppy) petals. Preliminary TLC analysis indicated the presence of thebaine
either in the fluid extracts or in the petals. It was therefore necessary to carry
out an accurate botanic examination of the plant material, which revealed contamination
of the red poppy petals with scarlet poppy petals. Moreover, to confirm the adulteration,
we developed and validated an efficient, reversed-phase ion pair HPLC method for determination
of the alkaloids specific for the Papaver species. Six petal batches and five commercial fluid extracts were analyzed. Only
one petal batch from Iran contained thebaine and its analogue oripavine while the
alkaloids typical for the Papaver bracteatum species were identified in all fluid extracts, meaning that they were all prepared
with contaminated petals.
Key words
thebaine - oripavine -
Papaver rhoeas
-
Papaver bracteatum
- Papaveraceae - ion pair reversed-phase HPLC
