title: Analysis of fluid extracts obtained from Papaver rhoeas petals contaminated with Papaver bracteatum petals.
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.
authors: Dipartimento di Scienze Farmaceutiche "Pietro Pratesi", Università di Milano, Milan, Italy. veniero.gambaro@unimi.it
authors: Veniero
authors: V
authors: Gambaro
authors: Paola
authors: P
authors: Minghetti
authors: Sebastiano
authors: S
authors: Arnoldi
authors: Maria Laura
authors: ML
authors: Colombo
authors: Lucia
authors: L
authors: Dellʼacqua
authors: Antonella
authors: A
authors: Casiraghi
authors: Katia
authors: K
authors: Guerrini
authors: Fiorenza
authors: F
authors: Farè
authors: Gabriella
authors: G
authors: Roda
mesh_terms: D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods; D056148:Chromatography, Reverse-Phase / Q000379:methods; D004340:Drug Contamination; D005060:Europe; D035264:Flowers / Q000737:chemistry*; D007492:Iran; D010207:Papaver / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000145:classification*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry*; D013045:Species Specificity; D013797:Thebaine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D010936:Plant Extracts; D013797:Thebaine; C005283:oripavine