Cyanogenic glycosides and cyanohydrins in plant tissues. Qualitative and quantitative determination by enzymatic post-column cleavage and electrochemical detection, after separation by high-performance liquid chromatography
Brimer, L.; Dalgaard, L.
Journal of Chromatography 303(1): 77-88
1984
ISSN/ISBN: 0021-9673 PMID: 6511842 Document Number: 239769
Cyanogenic glycosides, cyanogenic lipids and cyanohydrins are widely distributed in the plant kingdom, and the occurrence of cyanogenic glycosides in food and fodder is a particular problem in many parts of the world. A rapid, simple and reproducible high-performance liquid chromatography procedure is described for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of mixtures of cyanogenic glycosides. The separation is achieved by means of a reversed-phase (C8) column eluted with a phosphate buffer, pH 5.0, containing either 15 or 7.5% (vol/vol) methanol, 7.5% being necessary for resolution of epimeric pairs of the more hydrophilic glycosides. When this separation is combined with enzymatic post-column cleavage and electrochemical detection of the cyanide formed, a highly specific and very sensitive system is obtained. The method was applied to cyanogenic glycosides in crude plant tissue extracts, and compared with both a TLC method and to a traditional determination of total cyanide released after hydrolysis. Sensitivity, selectivity and accuracy were sufficient to enable its routine use for analysis of food and fodder samples, for example. Cyanohydrins could be detected qualitatively.