Bioactive compounds from plants are divided into several groups, but analysis of plant hormones is focused in this paper. Until now 6 kinds of hormones are isolated from plants, namely indole acetic acid (IAA), gibberellins (GA), abscisic acid (ABA), cytokinins, brassinosteroids and ethylene. They are extracted from plants with organic solvents and purified by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Most common column used for HPLC is a reversed phase column such as ODS. Plant hormones are usually delivetized and analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) or combined gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). By using methyl silicone (OV-1) capillary column, most of plants hormones are separated effectively. The accurate quantification of plant hormones are performed by GC-MS using stable isotope labeled internal standards. Examples of analysis of hormones are mentioned.
