title: Ionic content in plant extracts determined by ion chromatography with conductivity detection.
abstract: A simple method is described for the determination of the ionic content of vegetable samples by ion chromatography with suppressed conductivity detection. Extracts of leaves of cucumber (Cucumis sativus), leaves and cotyledons of watermelon (Citrullus lanantus), cotyledons of zucchini (Cucurbitapepo), and leaves and roots of olive (Olea europaea) obtained at room temperature yielded chromatographic profiles with substantial differences in the relative contents of Cl-, NO3-, HPO4(2-) and SO4(2-) as well as of Na+, NH4+, K+, Mg2+ and Ca2+. Although NO3-, Cl- and K+ were common to each extracted sample and accounted for most of the ions present, two additional anion peaks (i.e. malate and oxalate) were detected. Among the vegetable tissues investigated, olive roots contained a considerable amount of oxalate (37 mg/g dry weight), while Na+, which is present in very low amount in extracted samples of leaves and cotyledons, represented ca. 30% of the cationic content of olive roots. In all the examined tissue extracts, K+ was the main cation (16-55 mg/g dry weight) and NO3-, Cl- and HPO4(2-) were the main inorganic anions.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Via N. Sauro, 85-85100 Potenza, Italy. cataldi@unibas.it
authors.forename: Tommaso R I
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Cataldi
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Margiotta
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Del Fiore
authors.forename: Sabino A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Bufo
mesh_terms: D000838:Anions / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D002412:Cations / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D002845:Chromatography / Q000379:methods*; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D019684:Magnoliopsida / Q000737:chemistry; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000737:chemistry; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D000838:Anions; D002412:Cations; D010936:Plant Extracts