Abstract
cis-Aconitic anhydride reacts with aliphatic tert-amines in alcoholic solution in the presence of acetic anhydride to produce a yellow color, which can be applied to detection and determination of aliphatic tert-amines and alkaloids. Limits of identification are about 1-3 μg/0.5 ml, while the calibration curves for the determination show linear correlations in the range of concentration 1-10 μg/ml (3-dimethylamino-1-propanol), 1.7-17 μg/ml (2-dimethylaminoethanol), 3-30 μg/ml (nicotine), 5-50 μg/ml (homatropine and cinchonine) or 15-90 μg/ml (reserpine and aconitine).
