Planta Med 2015; 81 - PM_92
DOI: 10.1055/s-0035-1565469

GC-MS Investigation of Amaryllidaceae Alkaloids in Galanthus cilicicus

GI Kaya 1, K Uzun 1, B Bozkurt 1, MA Onur 1, NU Somer 1
  • 1Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ege University, 35100, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey

The genus Galanthus L. belongs to the Amaryllidaceae family and is distributed throughout Europe, Asia Minor and the Near East. Galanthus is represented by 14 species (15 taxa) in Turkey. Among these species, Galanthus cilicicus Baker, an endemic species of the genus Galanthus, is distributed in southern Turkey mainly in the province of Içel [1]. Galanthus species are among the most important native flowerbulbs exported from Turkey, therefore they have an economical importance [2]. They are known to possess Amaryllidaceae alkaloids with interesting chemical structures and biological activities [3]. Among the Amaryllidaceae alkaloids, galanthamine is used for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease [4]. In this study, the alkaloidal content of G. cilicicus, collected from Yenikoy (Icel) during the flowering season, was investigated by means of gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The crude alkaloidal extracts were obtained from the aerial parts and the bulbs. As a result, the GC/MS analysis of the prepared extracts afforded twenty alkaloids belonging to different skeletal types of Amaryllidaceae alkaloids. In the aerial parts, among the detected alkaloids haemanthamine and tazettine were the main alkaloids whereas in the bulbs galanthamine and tazettine were the major alkaloids.

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