Studies on the Chemical Constituents of Xanthoxylum nitidum (ROXB). D. C. (Fagara nitida ROXB.). II. Examination of the Chemical Constituents by Membrane Filtration : Identification of Magnoflorine, a Water-Soluble Quaternacy Aporphine Alkaloid

Abstract

A membrane filtration, the rejection effectivity of which mainly depends on the pore size of the membrane used, was applied to examination of the chemical constituents of Xanthoxylum nitidum (ROXB.) D. C. (Fagara nitida ROXB.), Rutaceae. The methanol extracts of the wood and bar were subjected to gradient filtrations. Each filtrate given by the separation was semi-quantitatively analyzed by HPLC. Magnoflorine (9), a phenolic quaternary aporphine alkaloid, was dramatically rejected by the ultrafiltration using a membrane with the pore size of 1000 in spite of its expected permeability through the membrane due to its smaller molecular weight than the pore size of the membrane used. Such clear rejection may be attributable to the phenolic functions in 9 because chelerythrine chloride (4), a quaternacy benzo[c]phenanthridine alkaloid, with a close molecular weight to that of 9, passed through the membrane.