The Chemical Investigation of Papaver Seeds

The Papaver species (common name: poppy; plant family: Papaveraceae) has been involved in a wide array of research, particularly in the interest of botany, food biotechnology and clinical chemistry. Its bright and colourful flowers receive international recognition in floriculture industry, while the seeds’ function was recently reviewed as a source of linoleic acid and other functional food. However, abuse cases were also reported, due to the presence of natural opiates, such as heroine, morphine and codeine, thus contributing to the opium dependence. Here, the results from a preliminary test concerning two samples are presented. The experiment consisted of Papaver seeds from a local bakery and the herbalist. Following a series of organic extraction, three reagents including Mayer, Draggendorf and Bouchardat solutions were utilized in order to screen the phytochemical constituents. The detection method respectively gave positive results of white, orange and brown reddish precipitates, indicating the occurrence  of alkaloids. The most significant precipitations were revealed from the chloroform extract of the herbal example. Earlier separation procedure utilizing hexane was withdrawn; due to the deficiency of the extractive. Chromatographic technique could be applied in order to separate the major compounds. Hopefully, this scientific investigation could provide educational information covering the topics of recreational drugs and essential pharmaceutical materials.